The Future Denies You
by emeraldwolf
Summary: The sequel to the fic, The Past Becomes You. DuoxHeero, DuoxSolo. Duo is brought back to L2 by a string of attacks and runs into an old aquintance who has a habit of stirring up trouble.
1. chapter 1

This is the sequel to my fic, The Past Becomes You. It won't make any sense unless you've read that fic, and reading Rainy day would help too. But that one is more an interlude between the two fics, and is not as important.

Warnings: yaoi, mentions of rape, mutilation, murder, prostitution, yadda yadda…these things are mostly for the ambiance of the fic, don't be scared off

Genre: I say this once, and only once, this is a drama/mystery fic. This means I will be talking about solving the mystery a lot, and having the characters trying to do so. This means I'll be dropping clues throughout this fic, so don't think that the "boring" parts aren't worth reading. It'll make it a lot better in the end.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this except the story. Solo I don't own, although this particular version of him is my own, and that includes his backstory. I'm not gonna put this on every chapter, so this goes for all of them.

And without further ado, the fic!

PS: sorry for the funky breaks to tell you when the fic ends/a new scene begins...FFN and its stupid editing system hates me.

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Something warm was touching him. Warm and soft, but prodding him in the arm, it was starting to get annoying.

"Five more minutes..."

"Duo."

A voice broke through the haze in the boy's mind. He was 18 now, but still appeared young; his boyish charms had only lessened slightly as his body filled. His hair was the same length as it had been since he was 13.

Sitting beside him, on another soft chair, was Heero. Both had grown in the years, but the height advantage was with Heero now. His dark sapphire eyes were only an inch above his lover's, but it gave him all the power he needed when convincing the boy to stay on task. Filling out his black muscle shirt nicely, the boy with the wild brown hair had drawn quite a few looks from the female passengers on the plane. Although, it was a futile attempt whenever his lover was close by.

"The plane is landing."

Abruptly out of his dazed, half-sleep, Duo sat up and yawned loudly. A few older women shot disdainful looks, but returned quickly to tending to their grandchildren, or snoring old husbands. With his head having been thoroughly scratched, Duo returned his seat and tray table to the full upright position, and nodded to the automated voice above him.

"How long have I been asleep?" Oblivious to whether there was or wasn't an answer, Duo pressed his face against the window and his eyes widened as he looked at the place he had once called home.

Building rose over the horizon, but like trees, only the healthiest and strongest reached the sky and sunlight. Smaller, condemned buildings seemed to shudder and withdraw beneath the skyscrapers. The colony curved around itself, like all colonies, taking up all the space possible without blocking the small sky that rose above it. The earth was hanging low in the sky as the colony orbited around it, the sun blaring down onto the inhabitants of L2.

"Home sweet home," he said, grinning sideways at his partner. Duo stood up along with the other people on the plane and gathered up his CD's and CD player and stuffed them into his book bag. Heero followed suit, sliding his laptop into his own book bag.

Stepping out onto the asphalt of the ground, the scent of the colony hit Heero in a wall. Duo just inhaled deeply, smiling as a million memories flooded his mind. Car smoke smelled like hot summers. The factory gases smelled like cold winter nights. The markets nearby smelled of oranges and fresh fruits, all of which were prime targets for the thieves of L2.

"Man…I'm starving."

Heero rolled his eyes and surveyed the dirty colony. Of all the colonies surrounding the earth, L2 was the most dilapidated. Sickness was rampant, homelessness was even worse, both spread throughout the colony. Even his home on L1 had its rough areas, but the entire L2 colony was on the wrong side of the tracks.

Heaving their bags over their backs, the two casually dressed Preventers waded through the hot, sticky airport. Children were running around, a few stopping momentarily to look sad and hold out a tin can. If the person passed without giving any money, they would stick their tongues out and flick the person off, then run back to their suddenly childish games. The line between young and old blended on the streets of L2, and one could easily walk the line, taking their pick of which side they'd like that day.

In passing, Duo pulled out a few dollars and held them out to the kids, but didn't look at them. He knew that he would only see himself. The grimy hands snatched at the money, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see the kid take his hat off and bow, before grinning and leaving to brag to his friends.

"So where to first?" Duo piped up. The sunlight bore down on the heads of the two brunettes as they emerged from the airport. Being one of the few tall and clean buildings on L2, let alone being one with air conditioning, the homeless of the area flocked to it. Gangs of orphans sat around in the shade, sneaking in through the doors to cool off inside, until they were caught and thrown out. An old man was asleep on a bench that sat in the shade of the airport, a newspaper pulled over most of his face.

"We should find a safe place to stay, then begin the mission." Heero seemed completely out of his element on Duo's home colony.

"Assignment."

"What?"

"Wufei said to call them assignments, because missions sounds suspicious."

Heero grumbled something unhappily before picking a direction where the map had said a good hotel was. Duo came trotting up to him, and fell behind again. He insisted on looking at everything, remembering flashes of it from when he was a child. With his pace slowed, Duo took in the brick of the buildings, the smell of the food vendors, and fell into his own past. Until his present reached in and grabbed him by the wrist, tugging him along.

"Come on Duo. We have things to do," Heero pried his way through the crowd, his fingers wrapped tightly around Duo's wrist. He was amazed that even after being together for two years, Heero's slightest touch still made his heart beat faster.

"So what kind of things?" Duo ran up and leaned onto Heero, smiling seductively to him.

Recognizing the area, Duo pulled Heero to the side and maneuvered him down a side street.

"Where are you taking us?"

Duo just grinned more.

"A shortcut."

Heero groaned and tried to resist, but now he was the one being forced down the street, and used as a shield for Duo.

"Watch it!"

"I'm walkin here!"

Heero tried to look inconspicuous with all the people shouting at him as he ran into them, Duo's hands on his back still urging him forward.

"Duo…stop…alright already! You can lead the way."

Duo stopped his pushing and marched in front of Heero, heading towards the hotel he knew was at the end of that street. Heero mumbled some more before taking in the sites of the city around him, then felt himself bump into something.

Duo had stopped walking forward and was turning around, his bright purple eyes following something down an alleyway.

"What—" But Heero never finished as Duo tore down the alleyway, tossing his light duffel bag over his back as he ran full speed down the dark alley. Coal black eyes peered out of the darkness for an instant, before turning around and fading into the shadows, leaving only the echoing footsteps.

With no other choice, and essentially lost on the colony, Heero ran down the dark alleyway, following the sound and brief glimpses of the two he was chasing.

A wooden fence blocked the end of the alley, and was bathed in the sunlight that had snuck down through the two apartment buildings on each side. Running into the bright light and then launching herself over the wooden fence, was a young girl, no more than 10 years old and obviously a street kid. She had pitch black hair, which was knotty and hung a little past her shoulders. She wore a headband around her head, keeping the wild black hair under control. Her shirt and jacket were both far too big for her thin shoulders, but were enough to keep her clothed. She was barefoot, like most kids in the city, but her feet were used to the rough street.

Duo ran to the bottom of the fence, and stared up at the girl. She was crouching on the top of the fence like a cat, waiting, her intense black eyes staring directly at him.

"Listen little girl, just give me my wallet back, and we'll forget this ever happened."

Duo spread his hands out in a placating gesture, and proved that he wasn't armed. The girl seemed to contemplate him for a moment, then stuck her tongue out at him and blew raspberries. She fell silently on the other side of the fence, and Duo continued to give chase.

Heero had arrived by his side, but stayed in the shadows, not wanting to frighten the little girl. After Duo climbed up the wooden fence and over in a few seconds, Heero stepped forward and jumped over it in one clean bound.

"You know, you make me look bad," Duo said before taking off, but there was a small smile on his face. The mass of black hair had turned down the street and was darting in between the people wandering the streets. Duo and Heero were catching up to her, slowly, and they saw her take a turn down another alley.

For the second time that day, Duo stopped in mid-stride and Heero ran into his back.

"What now?"

"I know where she's going."

Duo's voice was soft, and almost hopeful. Instead of heading to follow the girl down the alley, he ran to the corner of the street and took off at full speed, leaving behind a very confused Heero to give chase again.

Swinging himself around the corner of the street, Heero barely caught a glimpse of Duo darting down an alley that was farther down the busy street. Following him blindly, Heero hoped that his lover knew where they were going. Getting lost in this part of town, with the sun only a few hours from setting, was not part of his plan.

Using his speed, Heero finally managed to catch up to Duo, who was taking turns and curves without even pausing.

"You know where we're going, right?" Heero shouted to him.

Duo just turned his head briefly and threw a cocky glance back at him. Each building and each block looked the same as they ran past. Brick, with black doors and window frames. Fire escapes snaking their way up the sides of the apartment buildings. Children and adults crowding their way down the narrow sidewalks, walking across nearly deserted streets. On a colony as poor as L2, cars were a rare thing, and mostly belonged to people who preferred not to be seen in daylight.

Taking a sharp turn to the right, Heero ran directly into Duo, who was again standing perfectly still.

"This is getting old," Heero mumbled, but was quickly shushed by Duo.

They had stopped in front of an apartment building, identical to all the others. There was no front door, although pieces of the rotted wood still clung defiantly to the sides of the doorframe. A large green piece of tarp hung from the top, and made a makeshift door. It was still flapping back and forth, as though something had just ran through it. Heero had no doubt that the street thief must have gone in there.

The building was only three stories tall and to its right side was an open field, covered in trash but which was obviously used often. The empty lot had barely any grass growing on it, all trampled down by the constant visits it received by the orphans who lived nearby. On the other side was a nicer looking apartment building, a few stories higher. On that side, there was the typical fire escape leading up the smaller building. The alleyway was small, perhaps only a few feet across, barely enough space to let the landings of the fire escape hang without scraping against the next-door building.

"An old hangout of mine," Duo said.

"Fine, let's get in there and get out. We have a mission to accomplish."

"Assignment."

Duo walked slowly forward, crossing the abandoned street without even so much as glancing either way. Heero followed, his hand straying to the gun in his backpack. Duo reached the flap first, and stepped bravely inside.

At the shouts and sounds of people jumping, Heero burst through after him, with his gun up and pointed at the nearest person.

Duo was struggling in midair, his feet held off the ground by a man who was easily 7 feet tall. His arms were the size of tree branches and incredibly muscular. Bald and with a bushy mustache, the man looked like a professional wrestler. He had Duo in a headlock and was holding the boy, who was kicking and fighting with all his might. Heero leveled his gun at the large man's bald head, before realizing that there were more targets in the lobby of the building than he could possibly take at once.

The entrance and lobby of the apartment was just an open area, with an open door across from the entrance. Sunlight came in and lit up the rest of the floor, which only had a decrepit couch sitting on the left side of the room, and an old wooden desk on the right, where people had once checked in. A small, lanky boy was sitting on top of said desk, a long chain resting in his hands. He had red hair and was wearing a striped shirt and a pair of old jeans. Crouched down and ready to attack, the redhead smirked at Heero as his cold gaze failed to intimidate him.

Standing beside the couch was the small girl they had chased, panting and hiding behind the legs of a larger teenage girl. She had short hair, dyed a bright lime green, and had more piercings than Heero had ever seen. Five silver stud earrings ran up her right ear, and 2 hoops up her left. A small green gem pierced her nose, and a silver bar was over her left eyebrow. A blue stud was in her lower lip, and when she opened her mouth to lick her lips, Heero saw the flash of a silver ball on her tongue. Wearing a black shirt that had the lower half cut off, the girl's midriff was exposed as well as the black bar that went through her belly button. She wore a pair of black pants, which had been cut and torn until they were only the length of capri's, and showed off the green snake tattoo that twirled around the girl's ankle and up her right calf.

After taking in the girls' appearance without a problem, Heero's eyes widened at the fact that she had a machete. The long thick blade reflected some of the light coming through the doorway, and made it seem all the more sinister.

"Put him down," Heero growled as he returned his eyes and the point of his gun to the large man's forehead. He just laughed and was joined by the other members of their gang. Not liking being made a joke of, Heero turned off the safety on his handgun, and the audible click made the laughter stop, but the gang was still grinning.

"Lookie here, boy, ya don wanna mess wit dis here gang," the girl said in her strange accent, almost Cajun, but not quite.

"Aw, let him mess with us. Give us a workout."

The redhead sneered at them and jumped down off the desk. When he stood up he appeared even taller and thinner than he did crouched down, and began to swing his chain around and around, apparently out of boredom.

"I don't know," the large man readjusted his hold on Duo, who was still trying to squeeze out of the enormous arms. "That one over there has a gun; we really don't want to take a chance getting shot, now do we?"

The others all agreed and nodded to each other.

"Listen here, she didn't take much, why don we all jus try an to forget about it," the green haired girl smiled happily, and made a shooing motion with her hands.

"Give the wallet back, and let go of my friend, and then we'll forget about it."

"Yeah right!" The small black haired girl yelled and stuck her tongue out at both Duo and Heero.

"Your choice," Heero aimed at the man holding Duo, but let his aim trail down until it was on one of his mammoth arms.

Above the lobby, a staircase went along each wall, leading up to the three levels. Large windows, most of which were broken, lined the ceiling, above the final level of rooms. The few that remained intact were covered in dust and grime and only let a trickle of sunlight through. But the light from them all was enough for Heero to see a quickly approaching shadow.

A body fell from the third floor, and landed with barely a sound in the center of the room, crouched down on all fours. The dust on the floor swirled up in eddies around the body, which slowly stood up. His jeans were ragged, the bottoms becoming unraveled and the color was so faded it was nearly white. He wore a white tanktop with a jean jacket over it. He was a few inches taller than Heero, and almost as muscular. His shoulders were wide, and his arms and neck showed that he was strong, but he was thin. Malnourishment on a place like L2 will make someone waste away.

"Put him down Bruno."

The large man immediately dropped Duo, who fell ungracefully onto his ass. He stood up and brushed himself off, gasping for air before giving the man called Bruno the bird. He growled and took a menacing step forward, but Duo leapt back to stand near Heero, making him feel much more comfortable.

"Well well well. Look at that. The cat came back, and he brought himself a friend."

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Leave a review if you liked! If you review there is a much better chance that I will update faster. Later readers!


	2. chapter 2

_Merriam-Webster Dictionary_

Main Entry: **2solo**  
Function: _adverb_  
without a companion **ALONE** fly _solo_

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"Well, well, well. Look at that. The cat came back, and he brought himself a friend."

Duo turned away from the behemoth named Bruno, and looked at the figure in the light, who had spoken in a silky, familiar voice. His golden eyes were dull compared with the sunlight behind them, but Duo knew how they could flash with violence or with lust, given the right incentive. His hair had grown longer: the honey colored hair was long enough to go past his shoulders, but strands of bangs remained, hanging into his eyes and covering his ears. The smile on his face was forced and unnatural, strange on the boy who had taught Duo how to laugh.

Tossing his hair over his shoulders, Solo walked straight up to Duo, and looked deep into his eyes. His smile and face faded into melancholy shadows of themselves. As he stared at the yellow eyes, Duo had a feeling of déjà vu. But things were different. There should have been rain. Snapping out of this odd moment, Duo locked eyes with Solo and took a step back, establishing his feelings towards his former lover.

Solo's sad, calm face broke out into a grin.

"So, have you come to take up my little offer?" Solo reached out to touch Duo's face, but the smaller boy slapped the hand away. The entire gang laughed at the obvious rejection, but was silenced by a steely glance from their leader.

"Come on," Heero turned around and began to walk out the door, but a muscular arm was thrust between him and the flap. Solo leaned against the door frame, and propped his leg up on the other side. He stared at the two of them, his eyes eventually resting on Heero's.

"So why are you two here on my colony?"

The green haired woman was standing opposite to Solo and piped in, "The colony ain't yours sugar," before flopping down onto the nearby couch. The expression she had formed showed that this was the kind of thing she'd like to watch.

"That isn't the point right now Trish," Solo grinned to his younger charge, "The point is why these two soldier boys are here in my place. And I DO own this place."

The girl muttered something with a small smile that Solo didn't see. He had taken a step towards Heero and Duo, filling in the last spot in order to have them completely surrounded. Duo rolled his eyes and figured that this wasn't going to be a fun way to begin their mission…er, assignment.

"Look, Solo, just let us out of here, all right? We're not here to start trouble with you."

"You know shorty, this can be easy or this can be hard," reaching his hand into the right sleeve of his jacket, Solo pulled out a throwing knife, his favorite kind. It was about five or six inches long and incredibly sharp. It must have been fairly new, since Solo's weaponry usually had a lot of wear and tear.

There was another of those soft clicks that Duo had gotten accustomed to over the past years of his life as Heero raised his gun and pointed it directly at Solo's forehead. The older boy just looked back at him, arching an eyebrow and grinning.

"Is someone gonna tell him?" The red head had piped up and looked around the room nervously.

"Ryan's gotta good point," Trish nodded sagaciously from the couch which had been left with only one rickety leg.

"Heero, put the gun down," Solo said in a patronizing voice. Instead of following the advice, he seemed to grip onto his gun even harder, until a hand from behind him reached over and lowered the weapon.

"Guns are dangerous on L2, Heero. They're illegal because a shot through any part of the colony could kill everyone. The walls of this colony haven't been replaced since it was made. They're old as the hills," Duo said as he lowered the gun.

"Only the people who are in control here on L2 can get themselves guns and ammo," Solo slipped the knife smoothly back into the sheath on his wrist.

"Would dat be you, considerin you own de place?" A voice snapped from the musty old piece of furniture.

Solo just glared at the flamboyant girl.

Heero returned his pistol to his bag, and crossed his arms over his chest, staring down the calm gold eyes of the man in front of him. Duo recognized a stalemate when he saw one and decided to end it as soon as he could, his entire point being to get away from Solo as fast as possible.

"We're here on an assignment," Duo walked over towards the small dark haired girl. Trish flew out of the couch and stood in front of her, holding her arms outstretched so that she was between the small girl and Duo.

"I'm not gonna hurt her."

Turning to the small girl, Duo squatted down until he was eye level with her.

"Can I have my wallet back for a second?" He said to the small girl. She shot her dark eyes towards Solo, who gave her a small nod. She held out the worn brown wallet and Duo walked back to Solo, flipping it open to his Preventer's badge.

"Ah. A copper," Solo put on his worst gangster accent and winked at Duo.

"Yeah. So, if you'd just get out of our way…" Duo stepped forward but was met with a strong hand on his chest. He rolled his eyes at the innocent gesture, but knew it was just so Solo would have an excuse to touch him without losing a limb.

"If you're gonna be here on L2, I insist you stay here with the gang."

"No thanks," Duo pushed forward but Solo stood strong. He looked up into the taller man's eyes and tried to show him that there was nothing between them. He was over him.

"Well, then I have to at least offer you some protection. The whole gang'll look out for you, keep your noses outta trouble while you're here."

Duo raised an eyebrow. Before his mind could jump straight to the inevitable strings attached to Solo's oh-so generous offer, Heero beat him to it.

"What's the catch?"

Solo looked at Heero with a hint of anger in his honeyed eyes, but turned back to the question at hand just as quickly.

"All I ask in return is one teensy weensy thing."

Duo didn't know that his ex-lover's voice could get quite that high and annoying…but apparently it did.

"What?" Heero barked out like an order, but Solo's hungry eyes stayed focused on Duo.

"A kiss."

The red headed boy Ryan snorted and began to walk away, mumbling something about their leader being a "bloody hopeless romantic". Trish sighed and threw herself back down to the couch, the small dark haired girl following her. Bruno never moved.

Heero was about to reach back for his gun when he saw Duo step forward, so that he and Solo were face to face. Duo's lips were level with Solo's chin, and his eyes stared up at the other man's.

"Fine. Just one kiss."

Heero's eyes widened the slightest fraction and his eyebrow ticked angrily at how easily Duo had come to that decision. Although he wouldn't admit it, Heero knew they would need an insider's help on this mission. He just didn't want this particular insider.

Solo placed his hand on Duo's shoulder, flicking his glance to Heero cautiously, making sure that this wasn't a breach on their deal. Then he leaned over that small gap and pressed his lips to Duo's. Everything that had happened two years before flashed into Duo's mind, and he didn't jerk away as he had planned.

Rushing things along, never missing an opportunity, Solo forced his tongue into Duo's mouth and enjoyed the brief moment before he began to struggle. Then he felt something cold against the side of his head and pulled away, watching as Duo's eyes opened up, still glazed over from the kiss.

"That was no damn little kiss."

Solo smirked and turned his head so that the barrel of Heero's gun was directly between his eyes; challenging him to just pull the trigger, as Solo knew he was dying to do.

A punch to the gang leader's arm caused the two men to again break off their battle of wills.

"Sorry kid, I couldn't help myself," Solo playfully rubbed at his arm and stepped out of the way of the two Preventers.

"Yeah, whatever," Duo muttered and began to walk out of the door, when Solo's voice stopped him again.

"Have I gone so far that you won't do me the pleasure of letting me know what we simple people of L2 have done to deserve a visit from two Preventers?"

Heero acted as if the Solo had said nothing and tried to push Duo forward, but the longhaired boy didn't budge. Spinning on his heel, Duo brought his face close to Heero's and lowered his voice so that the others in the room couldn't hear what he was going to say. His cobalt eyed partner was expecting an apology or an assurance of his love. He got neither.

"He knows all the lowlife scum on this colony, and where they are. What if we use him, let him help us out? Then we can get out of here faster."

"What?" For a second, Heero was less emotionless than usual.

"It's going to be nearly impossible on our own. He might even know who did it already."

Duo's eyes pleaded as he whispered, so close to his lover's face that Heero could feel every breath he took.

"Fine. But if he tries anything, I will kill him."

Duo nodded and gave a small smile before walking past Heero and surveying the lobby of the apartment. The entire group followed him, but he seemed unperturbed by their impatience.

"Well? What was your little pow-wow there about?" The tall blond tapped his foot impatiently.

"Solo, have you heard of any mysterious muggings on L2?"

"Needle in a haystack, shorty."

"Okay, how about ones involving numbers?"

Trish coughed in surprise. Everyone turned to look at her except Ryan who was sitting on the staircase, his legs through the bars. His attention seemed to have been caught by this sentence as well.

"Yeah. If we're talking about the same guy then I've heard stories about him," Solo shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket and leaned against the wall, a few feet away from where Heero was still standing in front of the door flap.

"The only specifics we have on this assignment are that there is a man going around raping girls and mugging men on L2. He leaves his calling card by carving a number in their backs with a knife. The attacks began about 20 years ago, according to L2 police records, but the police were always too busy with other things to hunt down a man who had evaded them so often. The first time he attacked, he left the number 1. Since then it's been assumed that he leaves the next number on the next victim," Duo said.

"So if our cops never cared before, why'd they call you two in?"

"Well most of the recent attacks were never called in. Except for one, about two weeks ago. A man was found with the number 47 cut into his back, and some friends of his called it in. Our chief happened to come across the article, and when he saw how long this case had been going on, he sent us straight here."

For the first time, Heero spoke up. "But the problem is that it was an anonymous tip off. We have no names, and no leads."

"Haha. So you two are pretty much screwed and stranded?" Solo snorted at them from the wall. A bit of the life had come back to his calm gold eyes, "Alrighty then. You have me and all my resources at your disposal. No sense in having murderers running amock on my colony…except for me of course," he grinned rakishly at his gang and they laughed in agreement.

Heero raised an angry eyebrow at Duo and he took the hint, realizing that Heero was ready to leave. Reaching into his wallet, Duo pulled out a hundred dollar bill he still happened to have on him. With some quick work of his hands, he folded it into a paper airplane. As he picked up his bag, Duo turned around and sent the plane sailing across the room, to the small girl who leapt up and caught it. She finally smiled to him, and Duo felt that they had reached a truce.

"We'll come by here tomorrow morning then start looking for our suspect," Duo called out.

Solo nodded and turned away before Duo had even finished leaving, ascending the staircase on feet that were light from habit, always fleeing death.

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"Well, it ain't home," Duo dropped his bag on one of the small beds in the hotel. Heero turned and locked the deadbolt on the door, not even looking as he tossed his bag over his shoulder. There was a thud.

"Ouch," Duo whispered half heartedly as he rubbed his head. If nothing else, his lover had killer aim.

With only two strides, Heero crossed their entire room. Their one large window faced the western side of the colony, and the sun was blazing through, still at least an hour away from setting.

With a swishing noise he quickly shut the curtains, and everything in the room took on gray hues.

"So, where do we go tomorrow?" Duo sat up on the bed, blinking his eyes to try and adjust them to the dim light. He could see as Heero's figure approached, and leaned across the bed.

Duo didn't seem to care too much that he didn't get an answer, as Heero brought their lips together in a soft kiss. He half crawled onto the bed, pushing Duo down below him. His kisses went up Duo's jaw, and he began to lick and suck on Duo's earlobe, but he stopped when he felt Duo's jaw move against his face.

Pulling back Heero was met with a view of all of Duo's white teeth, in a yawn that looked painfully wide. He rolled over and Duo curled up against him, his hands trying to grasp at Heero's tight shirt.

"Tired?"

Duo nodded. "Jet—"another yawn broke through, "lag."

"Go to sleep," Heero said. With a kiss on his forehead, Duo fell asleep.

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Okay, I don't want to seem like all I care about is reviews, but please guys. If you read a chapter here, even if you already reviewed or have nothing interesting to say, just leave a review. Just so I know if anyone is reading this and its worth continuing. If you guys get to 10 reviews I'll post the next chapter, its ready to go. Oh, and from now on there will be something at the beginning of each chapter, song lyrics, quotes etc. that I think are good for the fic. They're short, I hope you guys will like most of them.

Responses:

Ashley---Yay for being the first review. I'm glad you are excited about it, and sorry for the long update. I was kinda holding out for more reviews, but oh well. If I don't get 10 for the next one I'll just give up on getting reviews for this poor fic.

Trowa no Miko---Ah yes, you are more familiar with this fic than anyone else. I'm still changing things as I upload these chapters though, I can't seem to be happy with this thing until right before I post it. Anyway, hopefully you'll love the later chapters, which I'm writing right now.


	3. chapter 3

"And all the roads that lead to you were winding  
And all the lights that light the way are blinding  
There are many things that I would like to say to you  
I don't know how  
I said maybe  
You're gonna be the one who saves me?  
And after all  
You're my wonderwall"

Oasis, Wonderwall

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"Hello?" Duo yelled out as he brushed aside the curtain that marked the entrance to Solo's apartment building. It was a beautiful day out, but the building still gave off a shadowy appearance, as if it were perpetually stuck in winter.

Compared to the previous day, the apartment was calm. No was seemed to be awake yet, or even living there. The dust was piling up in the corners and when the two Preventers entered, it drifted across the floor away from them.

Heero looked around, searching for the annoying blond who seemed to have all too easily swayed Duo. 'You're imagining things. Duo knows what he's doing.' But he kept his eyes trained a little more closely on Duo than normal.

"What you boys doin?" The clear voice of the girl named Trish echoed around the top of the apartment. She casually came out of her room, a ratty pair of pajama pants and an enormous t-shirt hanging off of her.

"Hey Trish. We came by to pick up Solo," Duo cheerily called back. The girl yawned and stretched her arms out, bending backwards and cracking her back in the process.

"Ain't awake yet. Wait around a bit," She began to slowly descend the staircase, a girl who should have been moaning about going to school, but was still sore from working as a whore the night before.

"It's ten o'clock," Heero said to Duo. He crossed his arms and put on his best exasperated expression. Duo just slapped him playfully on the arm.

"Give the guy half an hour. If he isn't ready by then, we leave without him."

Just as Trish reached the bottom of the old staircase, a loud thunk echoed around the building. A cloud of dust billowed from somewhere above them and sprinkled down like a mist through the rays of sunlight.

"He be awake now."

With a casual scratch in her green hair, Trish exited through a side door of the lobby that led to the kitchen.

"Does he always wake up like that?" Heero said, looking towards where the loud sound had come from.

"He didn't used to," Duo just laughed and took the advantage of being alone to wrap an arm around Heero's shoulders. He leaned his head on him and sighed heavily. "Why do I get the feeling this is not going to be an easy mission…"

"Let's see: a homicidal maniac, no leads, no suspects, and your psychotic ex," Heero snorted after this and shook his head hopelessly.

"Well, when you put it that way…" Duo grumbled then turned from Heero when he heard more signs of life from the third floor and caught a glimpse of someone opening a door. Solo's dull blond hair peeked up over the railings before he turned around and locked his room. He only had on a large button up shirt and a pair of boxers. When he saw Heero and Duo, he smiled and gave a halfheartedly salute.

"Mornin."

"Barely," Heero muttered. Solo just seemed to enjoy this and practically fell down the stairs, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes and comb his hair at the same time.

"Afraid of someone stealing your stuff?" Duo jerked his head up towards Solo room, which was once again locked off from the rest of the apartment. The honeyed eyes opened up and contained no fog of sleep as Solo stared at him. Duo felt a shiver go through him at the unusually focused expression.

"So do you guys have a plan or are we just gonna wander around and see what we see?"

The boy was once again his lazy self, oblivious to any tension that had appeared and made his way towards the kitchen.

"We should start by checking in with the L2 police. They should be able to give us the attacker's record," Heero's words became slow and distracted as he watched Solo walk in and out of the room, sometimes carrying food, and sometimes with his cheeks filled with pieces of breakfast.

"Thugh, at thouns koo—" Solo's half choke, half reply was cut off as a thin hand slapped the back of his head.

"Ya got no manners. Didn'cha ma ever tell ya not to talk wit ya mouth full."

Trish continued to take scoops of cereal into her mouth as she walked gracefully past Solo and headed up the stairs again. Solo just retaliated with a quick showing of his middle finger towards the back of the young girl's head.

"Okay. Fine. Police station it is. How about I meet you guys out front of the place in about fifteen minutes?" Solo lightly hit himself on the chest and crossed his eyes as he felt the indigestion from his breakfast flare up. He coughed a few times before heading towards his room again, not even waiting for a reply.

"Duo, do you know where the police station is?" Heero was thankful to leave the stuffy building and breathe in the fresher air of the streets. It held a bitter taste of the pollution on the colony, but at least it had a breeze.

"Yep. Got dragged down by the fuzz a few times as a kid."

Duo smiled mysteriously and headed down the street, with Heero following close behind.

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"Duo where IS he?" Heero growled for the fifth time.

"How am I supposed to know? We need to put a tracker on that guy or something," Duo sat on a cement wall next to the stairs that led into the old police station. He swung his feet and kicked the cement wall each time, waiting for the last of their party to arrive.

"Hola," A warm voice said in his ear, and Duo craned his neck up to see Solo's grin above him.

"You're late."

"What's new?" Solo casually threw back before sitting on the cement wall, facing the opposite way as Duo.

"Are you two going to sit there all day or are we going to go into the damn station?" His arms were folded and he tapped his foot impatiently as he watched Solo and Duo waste his time. Not that he minded Duo, or even acknowledged to himself that the boy wasn't exactly sprinting for the door either.

"Oh, forceful," Solo snickered but agreed to go inside. With one condition, Duo and Heero went first. By this time Heero didn't care, just as long as they all got inside the station and could begin their investigation.

The police station was dimly lit by a light bulb hanging from the ceiling. The lamps on the officer's desks drew the focus down to the ground, and away from the creaking ceiling fan. One middle-aged policeman was standing at the front desk, typing on a computer mechanically.

"How can I help you?" He said without looking up.

Duo grinned and walked directly up to the cop, leaning over his desk and getting in the tired man's face. He flipped his badge open dramatically.

"We're from Preventers HQ," He then smiled at the surprise on the policeman's face.

"Oh," Was the cop's only response.

Heero rolled his eyes. Next thing he knew Duo would be quoting gangster movies. 'If he says the word "copper" I'm out of here.'

"You think you could give us the record on the attacker who leaves numbers on people?"

The man turned to the computer and began to type faster than before, and stuck his tongue out of his mouth as he concentrated on his work. An overly loud hacking cough caused the man to stop perusing the files on the computer to gaze at Solo. The man grinned sheepishly back and covered his mouth, coughing gently a few times. He was standing in front of the board where the police stuck up announcements, notes, and wanted posters. He turned his back towards the three law enforcers and bent down, looking at every piece of paper stuck to the corkboard.

"So why were you boys brought in here?" The man questioned as he clicked with his mouse and the computer began to whir loudly.

"The anonymous call of the most recent victim. Our supervisor found the article and sent us in," Heero tried to sound as little patronizing as he could. He also completely omitted the part about the police of L2 being unable to catch this man for 20 years.

"Well, I hope you guys have good luck. This disk has all the records we have for him, and a complete list of the known victims. If you need our help, just give us a call."

Heero took the disk and headed for the door. Duo said a polite goodbye before motioning to Solo that it was time to leave. The blond did just that, grinning from ear to ear the whole time.

As they left the rundown police station with their disk, Solo began to whistle and grin cheekily at Duo and Heero. Duo's patience wore thin and he groaned at what he was about to do.

"Solo, why are you so happy?" He mumbled, more like an order than a question.

"Check it," Solo reached into his worn out jacket and pulled out a piece of paper, a corner torn off of it. On the paper was a faded black and white picture of a boy with a goofy grin and a mischievous look on his face, his hair ruffled and messed up. Had there been color, Duo and Heero knew that they would have been able to see the gold eyes and hair that took up the picture. Below it read "Wanted."

"You swiped your own wanted poster?" Heero said in a pitying tone of disbelief.

"Oh come on. Like you wouldn't have," Solo stopped looking at Heero as he saw Duo push his face closer to the poster. He squinted his eyes at it and was intently focused on the picture of Solo. For once, Solo and Heero seemed to have the same thought and looked at each other in confusion of their shorter acquaintance's sudden case of farsightedness.

"You have a black eye here." Duo said with childlike pride at his brilliant notice. Solo folded up the poster and slipped it into a pocket again before heading down the zig zag path that would take them back to his apartment.

"It's amazing how nice those bastards get if you flash them the right badge."

The two Preventers followed after the taller man, without a response to the piece of truth he had hissed at them.

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Right, so, I fail at getting reviews. And I fail at making threats to get them. I still hope you guys decide to review, but I'm not putting up any amounts to get before I update again. If you reviewed the first two chapters, please feel free to update the rest, makes me know you didn't forget bout me.

Slipknotrulez: Thanks for the support, yeah, I'm hoping for reviews too. But ah well, as long as at least one person is enjoying this story I'm happy.

Duo's right & left nuts: Love the anonymous names. You'll have to see about the pairing thing. I didn't plan it that way, but I'm not going to give anything away quite yet.

A Group of Yaoi Fangirls: Wow…kickass FFN name. I'm guessing its self explanatory, ne? I'm glad you like where the story is going, and if you like the convoluted love story, it only gets worse from here on out. Enjoy!


	4. chapter 4

"Don't forget, you're designing shadows as much as you're designing light."

Theater Professor

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"Blech!" Solo stuck his tongue out and put the cup of coffee on a nearby table, scooting away from it as if it were poison. "How can you guys drink that stuff?"

Heero sipped at the thick black coffee before putting his mug down and continuing to explore the information on the disk. Duo chugged some of his own mug before slamming it down on the table and smacking his lips together.

"Hopeless."

Solo was sitting on one of the bed's in the apartment. Next to him was a small table with a lamp on it, which Heero was leaning against while looking at the laptop on his knees. Duo had made them coffee, which explained why it was more like glue than coffee, and was trying to find the perfect place to sit so he could see what was happening too.

"Find anything good yet?"

Heero didn't respond to Duo right away, typing a few more commands onto his computer. It made a pleasant beeping sound and a long list showed up on the screen. Along one side were numbers, starting at 1 and going off the screen at around 30. There were also columns of names and dates.

"What's that?" Solo leaned over, his blond hair falling over his shoulders and brushing against Heero's face. He leaned sideways and glared at Solo's offending locks.

"A list."

Solo opened his mouth to make one of his usual smart ass comments but Duo beat him to the punch.

"Is it of the victims?"

"Yes. The first victim was in AC 179. A woman named Valeri Johnson," Heero moved the mouse to the name next to the number one and clicked on it. A profile of the victim popped up in a separate window, giving the vital information on the woman. "She was 22 when she was attacked and raped. The number 1 was carved into her back, but it was not enough to kill her." A few more clicks and a small picture of the woman came up. She had long blond hair and a smile on her face. She couldn't have been much older than Duo or Heero in the picture. 

Duo reached over and tapped on the computer screen. "It says here that she died AC 180 during childbirth."

"Guess we won't be interviewing that one, huh?" Solo snorted.

Over the next few hours, and many pots of coffee, the three boys sat in the apartment and went over every single report. Duo had a notebook and jotted down the names and addresses of any victims still alive. Solo made sure to take a good look at every name and picture, but sadly it seemed that he didn't know any of the victims.

"There are 14 out of the 47 victims who were never found or never reported. Most of them are the most recent ones," Heero used the mouse to point out the numbers that were listed without a name next to it. 34, 35, 37, 39, 44, 45, 47.

"So what specifics do we have on this guy?" Solo said, lying on the bed with his head hanging over the side. He found Heero's hair incredibly funny upside down, and wasn't really paying attention to what was going on now that they had seen every profile available.

"He doesn't seem to have much of an M.O. Each attack was in a different place, and the people don't share much in common. Most of the women seem to be blond, and a few of the men, but we're missing so many that that may just be a coincidence."

"That isn't a lot to go on. Didn't any of the victims describe what he looked like?" Solo rolled over on the bed, his chin resting on the fluffy comforter. 

"Some," Heero brought up a few of the windows with those reports. "All the victims agree that the man was incredibly strong, and snuck up on them. A few said he was tall and muscular, with brown hair."

"Yeah, that helps," He spat out sarcastically. "I'll just round up every big brunette man on L2."

"Shut up," Duo yawned, and leaned against Heero's right shoulder. He heard an angry sigh from the bed but didn't bother to acknowledge it. "Look Solo, if you know of any places we could go that people might know about this guy, that'd help."

"I know plenty of places where scum like to hang out. And I go to some of them enough that the people know me. They'd be able to help out. But I can't just ask them about a big guy with brown hair, I need more specifics."

"We'll get the specifics tomorrow."

Heero looked over at Solo as he shut down his laptop.

"Meet us down in the lobby here at 10. We'll interview some of the suspects who are still alive. Hopefully they'll be willing to help us and know something useful."

"Righteo then. See you in the morning," Solo grabbed the edge of the comforter and rolled over, making a burrito out of himself.

"Oh hell no. You go back to your own place," Duo rolled the body off the bed and heard a familiar thump as Solo's body hit the floor of the apartment. 

"You people have no compassion."

Gathering himself together, Solo stood up and casually made his way to the door. He opened the door and timed his exit so that he was standing in the doorway, with his head poking in as he left.

"Don't forget we're doing interviews tomorrow. You better not work your throat too much tonight, Duo."

With a click the door closed and Solo heard something heavy thrown against it. He grinned the whole way home. 

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"Hey Heero, have you seen my black hair band?"

"Duo. All of your hair bands are black."

"True. But have you seen the really black one?"

Duo was sitting on his bed, trying to separate his long hair into three even sections. Heero was already finished getting ready and had the list of victims in his hand.

"Did you leave it on your hairbrush?" He muttered as he circled a few of the victims who looked like they would be most helpful.

"No. Actually, I'm pretty sure you were the last one to have it. But it wasn't in my pile of clothes like usual…" Duo leaned over and started looking under their bed, his hair piling up on the floor by his feet.

Heero took a moment to look away from his list and watch the boy on his quest. 'We've only been together for two years, but so much has changed.' Heero remembered the first time he had pulled the band out of Duo's long braid and undid the plait. It had become a kind of habit of his to throw the discarded hair band in a pile with the rest of Duo's clothes. 'Had he said something like that two years ago, I'd probably have threatened to kill him.' Had Duo looked up, he would have seen Heero smiling the slightest bit at him, standing contently with his arms crossed.

"Here hair band…here boy."

"It's a boy?"

"And it's gay. You think I should bring its boyfriend out and get it off its lazy ass so it can help?" Duo flipped his hair back and it trailed along the bed behind him as he blinked up at Heero who sighed. The taller boy put down his list and started to look around for the mysterious homosexual hair band.

"Oh," Duo shouted. "I found it." His voice abruptly shifted to a sheepish sound.

Heero was on his knees by their dresser, looking up at Duo on the bed.

"Where was it?"

"On my hairbrush."

'Tick. Tick. Tick. Wow, three eyebrow twitches. Not bad.' Duo grinned as Heero stood up and approached him. The threat of being killed had long ago faded from Duo's immediate worries, and so this game of cat and mouse was merely for show. Not that either of the boys minded playing games. 

Stepping directly up onto the bed, Heero was soon standing next to Duo. He crossed his legs and sat down next to Duo. For a moment he just stared at the beauty of his lover. The long shimmering brown hair was piled over Duo's shoulders and fell over one of his eyes as he tilted his head. Reaching out his hand, Heero brought Duo to him and kissed him.

"Turn around."

Duo accepted the minimal amount of conversation that having a relationship with Heero brought with it rather well. He shifted himself around, trying not to sit on his hair. The tips of it were long enough now that he could sit on it when it was loose and still move his head around. 'Maybe it's getting a little too long.' Before Duo even thought about cutting his hair, Heero was bringing him back to the present.

The hands ran through his hair, the fingers sliding along the long silky strands, only getting tangled in the beginning. Soon it was as if Heero's hands were going through water, and not hair. Duo kept leaning back, making it harder for Heero to brush out the hair, and soon the hair was completely pressed between Duo's back and Heero's chest.

"We have to still braid your hair you know," He said monotonously.

In response, Duo nuzzled up against Heero. He gathered up his mane of hair and pulled it to his side, now that it was nice and untangled. 'If I didn't know better, I'd say he was only with me for my hair.' Raising his violet eyes, Duo saw the look on Heero's face. 'Okay, well maybe for more than just the hair…'

Duo's fingers began to separate his hair and fold the pieces over and under each other. As he did this, he felt the bed move as Heero came to sit in front of him. He continued to braid his hair as Heero leaned in and kissed him again. Feeling foolish, Duo tried to force down the fluttering of his stomach that still came when Heero kissed him like that.

Gentle lips playing with his tongue, Heero continued to dip gently into the warm mouth beneath his. Duo felt himself pulled into a hug as his hands were pressed between two strong bodies. But his fingers kept braiding, out of habit, his body continuing its task without its mind.

'So hot.' Heero pressed harder into Duo's mouth, feeling the life in the other boy. He also felt the quick fingers that were tracing against his stomach as they came closer and closer to the end of Duo's braid.

Pulling away Heero reached across the bed to pull the black hair band off of Duo's wooden brush. Then he turned around. 'We're going to be late.' His mouth hung open slightly when he looked back at Duo.

Duo was leaning back on his elbows, his legs spread to the sides and flat on the bed. His long braid snaked down his chest and further over his crotch and between his legs. The end was twisted together, but the band hadn't tied it down to keep it from unraveling. Duo smiled devilishly and his plan worked as Heero took the hair band on his fingers and leaned over him.

"Good thing the hair band is gay."

Duo smiled and leaned up to kiss the man above him. Heero was more intent though on his hands. They reached out and gently took Duo's braid in his hand. He made it seem like it was an accident where his knuckles happened to press down. Duo just let out a small gasp.

Having his kiss taken from him anyway, Duo watched as both of Heero's hands brushed the inside of his thigh. They were painfully slow as he tied the band around the end of his hair, pressing against every part of Duo's body that was nearby. When the braid was finished, Heero tossed it back over Duo's shoulder. His hands returned to Duo's inner thigh and massaged them as he leaned over and kissed Duo furiously.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Heero snarled but pulled Duo onto his lap, kissing him harder and forcing himself to ignore the knocking.

Knock. Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Go away!" Duo pulled his mouth away from Heero's just long enough to yell at the door. Missing the soft warmth, he quickly returned to Heero's needful tongue and lips. 

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.

"Get the fuck away!" Heero roared at the door. The anger and need to be quick spurred him on. He and Duo began to press against each other, hips pulled against hips, bringing themselves closer and closer to each other.

Click. Creak.

Heero felt Duo snort in surprise. The two jumped apart and looked guiltily at the door. Standing there with a piece of a coat hangar in his hand was Solo.

"It's 10:10," He said, somewhere between angry and playful. His eyes kept shifting over to Heero, then to Duo, then to the bed.

"We were coming," Duo bit his lip as soon as he said it.

"Oh I'm sure you were," he shot back. "Now come on. You people make me wake up at the asscrack o' dawn to get here, I wanna go do some work."

As they got up and Heero gathered their things, Duo finally took the time to look at Solo.

"What happened to you? You get mugged by Ralph Lauren?" His eyes ran up and down Solo, not quite believing what he was seeing.

The street rat was dressed nice. That's right. Khaki pants that had the bottoms a little worn, but other than that the pants looked like they were clean and new. A huge baggy green sweater with brown stripes hung on Solo's body and made him appear shorter and thinner than he really was. The arms of the sweater were folded up into cuffs so that the end was right along Solo's thumb. But what made Solo look so different was his hair. He had his long blond hair pulled back into a neat and tidy ponytail. All the shoulder length hair had been brushed back and pulled tight. The ponytail hung low on his head, and the soft hair curved over the nape of Solo's neck and past the top of the sweater.

"The name is Jack thank you," Solo crossed his arms and leaned against the door. 'Déjà vu.' Duo blinked his eyes a few times. In that position, and with the way he was dressed, Duo could swear that Solo had just gone back to being 15.

"Now you really are an idiot," Heero muttered.

"Hey buddy. Let's keep this friendly, huh? I'm being nice, you guys should be thankful."

Solo stood up and lost the appearance of being younger. The clothes still had the same effect, but Solo's true height was easier to see now.

"You cleaned yourself up," Heero said as he tilted his head up. Duo looked between the two of them before his mind finally caught up to the conversation.

"Who's Jack?"

"I'm Jack," Solo replied grinning.

"No, you're Solo," Duo looked closely. Honey colored eyes. Sun bleached blond hair. Slightly brown shades toward the top. Cocky smirk. 'No, that's definitely a Solo.'

"This is a persona of mine," Solo grinned and put his arms out, twirling around and showing off his wardrobe. "Whaddya think?"

"So you're going undercover?" Duo was hoping that he was getting closer to understanding what was going on.

"I always do when I'm conning. Trust me, that is not the kinda job where you want people to know where you live."

"Solo," Duo's voice strained, "You do realize that we are trying to catch a psycho today, right? You can go play around some other time."

"Hey, just cause I'm helping you guys out doesn't mean I can't make some quick cash at the same time."

Duo and Heero groaned in tandem.

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"You are an idiot." Duo said to Solo as he swung open the door to the hospital. Heero had found a young girl, 13 years old, who had been attacked when she was 8. She was homeless and an orphan, so the hospital kept her in their pediatric ward as a pity case. 

"Personally, I think it's a great plan," Solo snorted and looked around the sterile white lobby. A shudder ran through him. He hated hospitals. He always had.

Heero was having a quiet conversation with the nurse at the desk, showing his badge and explaining their purpose. Solo couldn't help but shift his feet back and forth from left to right. Duo watched him, but soon was too dizzy to follow his motions.

"Calm down."

Out of habit Duo reached over and grabbed Solo's elbow to keep him from continuing his annoying habit. Solo flinched away and his eyes focused quickly on the person touching him. It took a few more seconds before the eyes focused on Duo.

"Man. You need some decaf," Duo pulled his hand away but stared at his companion. 'He's never been that easily frightened. What's wrong with him?' A strange sense of foreboding had come over Duo since they arrived on L2. This just caused it to rear back up.

"Room 307," Heero stepped between the two men, both with obvious tension about them.

After having to deal with Solo recounting one of his many strange adventures on the streets of L2, Duo and Heero were ready to tear open the slow elevator's door. The small ring that sounded their freedom caused two relieved sighs.

As the trio approached door 307, Heero and Duo took the lead. Heero knocked on the door and a small gentle voice replied.

"Come in."

When the door was opened, Duo could see only a bright light. The girl's drapes had been pulled back, and she had a room with a view of the whole diseased colony. The only good thing about the window was that it flooded her room with sunlight.

The girl had short black hair, pulled into two ponytails on the side of her head. She sat in her hospital bed, looking perfectly at home. Small trinkets and stuff animals were thrown about the room, and piled at the end of her bed. 

"My name is Melissa. Who are you?" The girl's bright blue eyes were curious but not afraid.

"My name is Heero. This is Duo. We are Preventers here to investigate a case."

The girl nodded to the two before drifting over to Solo. She tilted her head to the side and studied him for a minute.

"Who's your other friend?"

"A friend. His name is Ja—"

"Solo."

Solo looked to the interrupted Duo who was confused and shrugged.

"Okay. So if you're investigating something why have you come to see me? I haven't done anything wrong."

The girl was completely sure in what she said. She even seemed to be bold about it, challenging them to blame her.

"We're here to talk to you about something that happened to you when you were 8," Duo tried to be comforting and sat down on a nearby chair. The girl's sweet eyes turned downcast, and Duo had no doubt that she would react that way. 

"The man. The guy with numbers right," she said bitterly. 

"Yes. I'm sorry Melissa, but we're trying to catch him. Make him pay for what he's done--" Duo stopped when he saw a crystalline tear drop from the girl's eyes.

"I thought someone had come to see me," She sniffled and used the blanket to wipe away her tears. "But all anyone ever wants to talk about is what he did to me."

"What did he do to you?" Heero's voice was as monotone as ever. The child's tears did nothing to him.

"If you found me, you already know," she snapped. 

"Why don't you try telling us in your own words? Maybe there's something in your story that can help us find the man," He tried not to imagine what this girl must have gone through, trapped here forever. In the victim's descriptions, they had found this girl Melissa. Her case was different than the others. Rape, mutilation, but the man made a mistake this one time and cut too far down with his knife. Her spine had been severed. She was paralyzed. 

Chained down to a bed.

"Get out," She fisted her weak hands in the sheets.

"Please—"

"Get out!" She screamed and threw her head into her hands, her body shaking in grief and embarrassment.

Duo's mouth hung open from being interrupted, but he closed it and stood silently. The three walked into the hallway and Solo closed the door behind them.

"Well, that didn't exactly go that way, did it?" he said.

"Solo, is there anything useful you can do?"

"Jack. And yeah. Maybe. I'm gonna go talk to her alone. You guys wait out here."

He turned and slipped into the room again before Heero and Duo could protest.

The hospital clock ticked impatiently as Solo remained in the girl's room. At the point when Duo had finally settled himself comfortably into the hard plastic chair, the door opened again.

Solo walked out, closed the door, and sat down next to Duo. He looked melancholy.

"It didn't work?" Duo cocked his head to the side to stare into the faraway golden eyes.

"Huh?" Finally returning to the land of the living, Solo blinked and seemed to comprehend the question. "Uh, no. Actually the girl told me some pretty good info."

Heero looked at Solo incredulously. But the normally temperamental boy just stared back, no challenge in his expression.

"Melissa says that she saw the man who attacked her. It's the same general description we have for everyone else, except for one thing."

Duo and Heero unconsciously leaned forward towards the blond.

"She says that he was dressed nice."

"That's it?" Duo sighed. He stood up and cracked his back.

"It's important info Duo. This means we only have about a sixth of the population of L2 to deal with. She says he was dressed like he was really well off. Definitely from uptown."

Solo stood up, as did Heero, and the three left. It may have been a scrap, but they would take anything they could get.

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Ashley: I'm glad you like Solo. Since he's a semi-original character there are lots of different ways to portray him. Glad you like my version.

Katt: Thanks for the vote of confidence. Here's a chapter to feed your addiction.

Duo's Power Pole: You'll just have to wait on the wing thing. The first fic was meant to introduce the three and set up their relationships with each other, including how Solo can still be alive. This one focuses on a few new things, so the wings won't be as prominent.


	5. chapter 5

"You don't tug on Superman's cape,  
You don't spit into the wind,  
You don't pull the mask off the old lone ranger,  
And you don't mess around with Jim"

Jim Croce, "Don't Mess Around with Jim"

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Duo pulled off his coat and hung it over his shoulder. He and Heero had gone back to their apartment and thought up any new plans that could help them on their detective work.

They had so far come up with very few. And now it was time to head back and meet Solo, and to see if his plan would get them any farther.

Heero wiped the sweat from his brow as he followed Duo to the decrepit apartment Solo owned. L2 was an old and forgotten colony. It had become like a desert over the years. The weather control could not keep out the sun's harsh rays and so the days became humid and hot even in the winter. At night though, the heat could not be contained and the colony became frigid and black.

Duo was the first to reach the abandoned apartment building and brush aside the makeshift doorway. To his surprise, he was met with shouts and cursing.

"Damn it Solo." Ryan was sitting on the beaten up couch and sucking on his knuckle.

Solo sat across from him, smiling very slightly at his young friend. A few strands of his golden hair had fallen out of his ponytail and were cast into a ray of sunlight coming from the open backdoor. From his perch on the worn down coffee table that sat amongst the rotting furniture, Solo looked up to his two visitors.

"Welcome back." He stood up and cracked his back, a typical move from Solo.

Duo's eyes flickered from Solo to Ryan, who was still nursing his wound. The boy looked to be his real age as he did so, much younger than when he was found with a weapon in hand, ready for battle like a person twice his age.

"What were you two doing?"

Then Heero entered and stood behind Duo. He did not trust Solo, but his hatred for the boy had diminished over the past few days of being near him. He had many of the same qualities of Duo. No doubt they had picked up many things from each other over the years.

"Solo was trying to teach me a trick." Ryan knelt to the floor and picked up a small silver blade. The blade had no handle on it, and was shaped differently from a normal knife. Heero recognized that it was a well-crafted throwing knife, but Duo did not.

"What's that?" Duo walked up to Ryan and the redhead handed over the blade to Duo's inspection.

"A throwing knife." Both Solo and Heero answered simultaneously. Afterwards they shot each other equally surprised glances.

"Hey Solo, show them the trick." Ryan's green eyes glittered with hope and he smiled widely to his teacher and leader.

"Nah. Too much pressure. I'd screw it up." Solo laughed casually as he took his knife away from Duo's curious hands.

"Gasp. Solo afraid of showing off." Duo mocked.

Solo stood staring at the smaller man. He could see the challenge in Duo's eyes but did not want to be drawn in so easily. Yet, he also was quite keen of showing off in front of a crowd. Even so small a crowd.

"Fine. I been working on this for a while. Hopefully a won't loose a finger or anything."

With one last grin and deep breath, Solo extended the knife, clasped in both hands. Carefully he turned the blade upside down, and rested the point against the middle finger on his right hand. It stood there, on the very tip of his finger, held in place by his left hand. He seemed to hunch over, adjusting his center of balance, before very slowly, his hand drifted away from the knife.

It stood, perfectly balanced on his finger. The light from the door reflected of the sharp edge of the blade, but the tip did not cut his skin.

The other three men watched in quiet awe as Solo maintained the balance on that one solitary point.

"It looks like the blade would cut ya, but with the right balance, it's like another part of your body. If you don't trust yourself with the blade, you'll slip and it could cut you." His golden eyes were completely focused on the sharp blade, oblivious to his audience or his mutterings.

In the blink of an eye, Solo reached out with his left hand and snatched the blade off his finger. He grinned proudly at the three boys before handing the knife back to Ryan.

"You'll get it eventually kid, if you don't cut off all your digits first." Solo winked at him, and missed the flash of hurt on Duo's face. He had never called anyone but Duo "kid".

"That's a well made blade. Where did you get it?"

Solo looked to Heero with no sneer or malice. He too was getting used to the monotonously emotionless boy.

"Well, I can show you. The sun is gonna set within the hour, so we should be headin out anyway. But we have enough time for me to show you the armory." With that Solo grinned maniacally and swung himself up on the staircase. He took the stairs two at a time with Duo and Heero a heartbeat behind.

When they reached the second floor Solo turned off the staircase and slowed down, heading towards the last door on that hall. It was opened slightly, and when he reached it he threw it open.

Duo and Heero walked in and gawked at the contents of the room. Weapons of all sorts were strewn on the floor and kept in a solitary bookcase that stood on the far wall. The room was very small, smaller than the other apartments, and it was without a window.

Blades of many sizes were piled up on the floor, some were within their sheaths, others dully reflected the light of the lobby from out of the rug. The largest weapons, a few long swords and clubs, were kept on the bookshelf. Most of the weapons in the room were starting to rust or had been broken.

"When you said armory, you weren't kidding." Duo's jaw hung open as he checked on every piece of arms in the room. "Solo, where did you get all this stuff?"

"Me and the big gang knocked off a pawn shop. Turns out the old man dealt more in blades than anything else. We pawned off the other stuff to a rival pawn shop and didn't have to work for a few months afterwards." As he spoke he dug through the pile of blades and found another throwing knife and two sheaths.

Heero walked up to the bookcase and picked up the machete he had seen Trish with on their first day.

"So that explains this." Heero held up the thick blade for Solo to see and the blond nodded to him.

As he stood up, Solo took the two sheathed knifes and pressed them against his forearms. He took two pieces of leather straps that had been sitting on the floor nearby and wrapped the sheaths against his forearm. The blades now rested below his palm, where he could easily grab them should he need them. He pulled down the large sleeves of his sweater to cover up his weapons.

"Feel free to grab any ya think ya might want." When neither Heero nor Duo moved, Solo shrugged. "Your loss."

The trio left the apartment building and followed Solo's lead through the bad part of L2. As they progressed, the streets got nicer, the homeless became less frequent, and the air became slowly more breathable.

"So where are we going again?" Duo plowed forward through the crowd to reach Solo. He still walked with the pure grace of someone who knew every corner, crag, and cement block within his domain. Solo was only graceful when he did not intend it, it was his instincts that took over when he became so perfectly suited for any environment.

"A place called The Draft. It's a bar that sits on the street that separates the nice side of L2 from our side." Solo slowed his pace down as the crowds began to thin. The sun was setting and casting red rays across the sky. Most of the residents of the colony were heading for their nice warm houses, leaving the streets emptier as they approached the other half of the colony.

Although there was no distinct separation between the two halves of the colony, it was obvious to tell one from the other. Duo and Heero visibly relaxed as they walked down the street that was neither rich nor poor. The buildings were well kept and clean, but in the alleys there were still a few homeless who hung around after dark.

"Okay boys. I'll set em up. You knock em down." Solo grinned to his friends and turned towards a door. On it was a small sign that said "The Draft" in elegant red letters with black outlines.

When he opened the door, Solo stood aside and let Heero and Duo go in first. The door led to a small foyer. A very large man in dark glasses stood with his arms crossed in front of another door. His glance went quickly from Solo to his companions before he nodded to Solo.

"Thanks buddy. I swear, no trouble this time." Solo smiled and pulled the other two after him. The bouncer opened the door for them and Duo nearly tripped when he realized there was a set of stairs leading down from the door.

When they emerged into the bar at the end of the stairs, Duo felt decidedly more relaxed than he had been. The bar was actually very nice. It had a dark wood counter with silver stools pulled up to it. Many people sat at the bar, drinking their drinks and laughing happily. A TV was set up over the head of the barkeeper and in the opposite corner of the room. The rest of the bar was covered in silver tables with black metallic chairs. A few black velvet couches sat around the edges of the bar, and three red pool tables were against the wall opposite the counter. All the walls were painted a dark red and jazz music wafted through the air, giving the bar a very inviting feeling.

"My man Jack!" A sweet voice called out from behind the bar. A girl stood at her post, dressed elegantly in a dark blue tube top and tight black paints. Her black skin was complimented by the soft blue eye shadow she wore and by the light blue beads hanging at the end of her cornrows.

"Hey Deanna. How's it goin?" Solo sidled up to the counter and sat down on the stool, shooting a flirting glance at the attractive bartender.

"A good night. A bit busy, but you should profit off it so I guess you don't mind." She smiled at Solo before noticing Duo and Heero standing uncomfortably behind him. "Where are your manners Jack? Who are your cute friends?" Deanna leaned forward on her arms and smiled at Duo.

"This is Duo and Heero." Solo motioned to each in turn. "They're gonna be hangin with me tonight. Watching the master at work."

Deanna looked at Solo suspiciously.

"You better not cause any trouble Jack. If you so much as get somebody to yell at you, or your friends," she turned a scolding eye to them, "I'll have the boys personally escort you out." Without another word she turned to face a customer who had come up the bar for another drink and her smile immediately returned.

"Right then. Best behavior now boys." Solo clapped Duo on the shoulder and smiled at them as he started to wander through the bar. Most of the tables were full, but people were continuously moving from their seats to the bar, and from the bar to the pool tables, so a few tables would open up every now and again.

Eventually Duo and Heero found a four-person table that had been vacated and they sat down at two of the chairs. Solo was busy having a quiet conversation with someone at another table, but headed toward them when he was finished. His eyes went around the bar, trying to look casual but obviously he was very interested in who was present at The Draft. His eyes fell upon a dartboard near where the tables ended and the open space with the pool tables started.

"Ooh…dartboard." Solo pushed his way through people's chairs up to the board and yanked out the three silver darts. He walked backwards until he was about ten feet from the board. He carefully pulled his hand back with one of the darts in it and lined it up with his eyes.

He threw the dart straight at the dartboard, and it promptly spun around and bounced off.

Plop. The dart had fallen into a girl's mug of beer.

"Oops. Sorry. I'll buy you a new one." Solo cringed from the girl's scathing glance but soon she backed off and Solo gave a heavy sigh. Meanwhile Duo and Heero sat at their table, trying to look as if they did not know the blond idiot.

Taking aim once again, Solo hurled the dart with all his might and once again it flew away from the wall, landing between a few people. The disturbed drinkers glared at Solo with all their might. He grinned apologetically, and gulped when he saw Deanna's glare joining the rest of them.

A chair screeched across the floor and an old man from a nearby table stood up. He had a bushy beard and small eyes. Walking up to Solo, he reached out his shriveled hand and seized the final dart. Solo tried to protest but the old man paid no attention to him.

Holding the dart lightly in his hand, the old man threw it at the wall. With a soft thunk, it was firmly imbedded in the wood. It was dead center in the ring around the bull's-eye. The old man laughed at Solo, his blackened and yellowed teeth causing the boy to draw away from the gaping mouth. All the other old men at his table laughed at Solo and cheered on their friend when he turned to them, looking for the appraisal he deserved.

Even Deanna and the others in the bar snickered at Solo's embarrassment. For his part, Solo stayed rather calm and merely hung his head, trying to hide the flush on his face from being so horribly shown up. Unfortunately, Solo was never renown for handling situations in a mature and calm fashion.

Reaching with his right hand into the sleeve on his left, Solo withdrew a throwing knife that flashed briefly in the low light of the bar. Then it flew through the air, a silver flash too quick to follow. The entire bar was silent.

Solo stood motionless, his arm still extended from when he had thrown his knife. The blade was sticking into the bull's-eye, exactly on target. The dartboard fell to the floor with a crash that was loud compared to the silent bar.

Deanna began yelling and cursing at him for ruining her new dartboard, but Solo ignored her. He merely walked up to the fallen target, bent down, and pulled out his silver blade. He very slowly returned it to the makeshift sheath on his left forearm. Finally, he sat down with Duo and Heero.

"Moron."

Solo smiled at Duo for this and blew him a kiss from across the table.

"Now boys, shall we get on to the fun part?" Solo leaned forward over the table, the loose hair in front of his face waving softly from one side to the other.

"Sure. Why not." Duo shrugged before getting up and heading for the bar. In a few minutes he returned with four large mugs of beer.

Solo eyed the Guinness hungrily. The beer was black and filled to the brim of the mug, but Duo pulled it out of his reach.

"Remember Solo,"

"Jack"

"—that this drink is going to last you all night. Heero and I aren't paying this money for your drinking."

Solo flashed a never-care grin. "Of course I know that boys. Now gimme my booze."

Taking a sip of his beer, Solo smacked his lips together happily. Then he turned halfway in his seat and called loudly to the bartender. She looked at him and sighed, resigning herself to the fate of having to deal with the street rat for the rest of her life. Somehow Solo managed to have a similar effect on almost every poor person he encountered.

"So Deanna, you got any macho men who think they can beat me at cards?" Solo let his arm hang halfway over his chair behind him, slouching. A few heads picked up at his excessively loud voice and bravado, but they soon turned away.

"Sorry Jack, nobody's come looking for you to play cards tonight, but I got a guy here who thinks he can beat you at a drinking contest." Deanna had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. Every time Solo came in they played the same cheesy scene out, all so he could con people out of their money.

"How about this. I'll bet anyone who'll play me in cards, or anyone who will challenge me to a drinking contest…" he paused, letting the crowd listen up, "four hundred dollars."

This time quite a few people looked at the boy with the oversized clothes. To most of their eyes, he looked far too young to provide any sort of competition. And those four hundred dollars was sounding very appeasing.

"And, I'll sweeten the deal." At this Solo stood up and took on the appearance of a televangelist. "For whoever beats me at cards, or at drinking, you will win four hundred dollars. And if I win, I'll only win the entrance fees from you all. Fifty bucks a piece."

Solo smiled a childlike grin and lured his unwary prey into a trap. Soon there were three tables surrounding where Duo, Heero, and Solo were sitting full of contestants. Half challenged Solo to play cards, the other half to drinking.

Eleven people total, three drinking against Solo, and eight playing cards against him. As per his request, Solo got to choose both the card game and the alcohol. Blackjack, as suited his alter ego's name, and whiskey. Aside from gaining Solo some extra cash, the plan was going well as the bar patrons drank more and played cards, two of the things in life which so quickly lead to conversation.

"So any of you guys heard anything bout that attacker?" Solo said casually as he laid down the ace and jack of spades, much to the dismay of his companions. The rules had been decided that after any man lost ten hands, they were out of the competition and the count started again. The men of the bar had figured that they would have the advantage over this Jack character, because as he competed in the drinking contest, he would become more and more drunk and eventually start losing at cards as well. They underestimated how much liquor Solo could handle.

Another shot down of the whiskey and Solo cast his gaze around the table, meeting eyes with all the men he was playing against.

"You talking about the recent attack right. The number thing." A gruff voice came up. One of the men took his shot of whiskey as well as Solo turned to speak to him.

"Yeah I think so. Why, you know anything about it?" With one hand on his glass at the table to his left, Solo picked up his hand of cards from the table at his right. His golden eyes flashed in the dim lighting of The Draft as they flicked from one side to the other.

"Well, I heard that those attacks started a while ago, before I was even born." A youngish boy laid down his hand of an ace and a nine, only to be shot down by another of Solo's blackjacks. After a sigh, he continued. "Apparently, a while ago there was a real dangerous guy on L2."

Heero and Duo talked quietly to each other, trying to look inconspicuous. At the same time they listened in on the hectic conversation across the two bar tables.

"So tell us bout this guy you heard about." Another of the sarcastic, and slightly tipsy, drinkers shouted to the young boy.

After his blaring voice stopped, the man promptly fell to the ground. Solo grinned to his fallen companion at the same time as placing down two jacks on the card table. Now there were only 6 men left playing cards with "Jack", who proved to be aptly named.

"Well, they called him Wolf." The boy was cut off by Solo, choking on his whiskey. Duo looked up briefly, but went back to talking to Heero when he realized that Solo was just being his usual idiotic self.

"He was the head guy in a gang called The Beasts. They say he did terrible things to people."

Solo continued to sputter and cough, reaching over to Heero and Duo's table and snagging his Guinness from before. He drank a few sips and smacked his lips loudly. But the boy at the card table never stopped, and Solo fell back into the conversation.

"I heard that once, a member of his gang was pick pocketed. Well, this Wolf guy chases the pick-pocket down, and stabs him in the throat, like this," the boy thrust his hand out, and imaginary knife pointing at one of the other player's throat, "then he twists it and rips the guy's vocal chords out. Catch is, the guy's alive the whole time."

A murmur of appreciation went throughout the two tables, people nodding that they had either heard the story before or that it was a good one.

"Damn. Bust." The boy put down his losing hand and stood up, taking his drink with him to sulk.

Duo stood up casually and started to follow the boy. This guy he talked about could very well be their mystery mugger. Before he had left the table Solo grabbed his wrist.

"That kid doesn't know anything. His information is wrong." Solo hissed up at him, then returned to his games.

"You know. Now that you mention it, I think I remember hearing about those number attacks a few years back." This came from a well-dressed man with slicked back tawny hair.

"Really? Anything worth telling?" Solo downed yet another whiskey shot, but his focus and his luck had held out so far.

"Well, he numbers his victims. His own personal screwed up calling card. And I once heard someone mention something about a picture fetish."

Heero and Duo met eyes across their small table and continued to look uninterested in the very interesting conversation.

"Picture fetish? Oh come on man, that's not interesting." Solo leaned back in his chair and threw another winning hand out on the table. "Let's face it, I'm sure we've all had things for pictures before."

He finished with a wink and another shot of the coppery liquid. His whole body felt hot. He wished he didn't have on that damn heavy sweater.

"I'm sure we all do." The brunette winked at Solo. "But I hear this guy took pictures of his victims. Of the numbers he carved into them."

"Yeah, I think I heard about that too." Another person at the table chimed in.

Duo felt his heart beating faster. Part probably had to do with the beer in his system, but he knew most of it was because of what he had heard. That bit of information could help them solve the whole case.

The night wore on and Solo's opponents slowly became scarce. Two players remained at cards, both still loosing more hands against Jack than they were winning. One of the drinking contestants was still giving Solo a run for his money, but it was getting late.

"You know……I loooove whisssskey." The man mumbled, guzzling down his next shot. Most of the alcohol ended up on his chin.

Solo rolled his eyes. This guy could not keep his alcohol down for long. Soon he'd be upchucking in the bathroom along with the other guy. Putting down another winning blackjack, Solo defeated another opponent. The money was practically his already. Just one more man to outplay, and one left to out drink.

He let his eyes wander to the center of the table, where the $550 were pinned underneath a whiskey bottle.

"Hey you! Don't think I didn't see that!"

Solo raised his head to question the drunk man what he was talking about, and instead met with the man's fist.

His chair bent under him and Solo soon found himself looking up at an upside down Duo. He grinned like an idiot and held one arm up to Duo. Wrapping the other around the chair, Solo and his chair were pulled back into position.

"That wasn't part of the deal." Solo spit a bit of blood onto a napkin. But the drunk man had lost it and was not ready to give in just yet. He rushed at the blond but was easily dodged.

Solo could feel the whiskey pumping through his system. He wouldn't be able to fight very well. If it stayed to one on one he was fine, but anyone else and he was going to need some help.

"Stupid little shit, trying to steal my money!" A shrieking voice from the card table. Solo couldn't help but laugh out loud at the man's incredibly high voice.

"Hey man. You shouldn't be allowed in a bar if ya ain't hit puberty yet!" Solo yelled to him as he punched the drunk man in the stomach and left him on the ground. The high pitched one rushed him and tackled him to the ground.

While Solo rolled around with his current foe, the drunken man amazingly regained his feet and also advanced toward the mass of limbs and hair that was the fight. Duo and Heero stepped in and tried to hold back and calm down the man. But sometimes liquor can give you more strength, and this guy was proving to be a problem.

General mayhem ensued.

At some point, the bouncers arrived and Deanna's loud cursing voice could be heard in the background giving out orders. Everything seemed to be happening in flashes. Solo was on top of the man who had tackled him, punching him repeatedly until he was unconscious.

Duo and Heero finally managed to knock out the half-conscious drinking contestant. Duo felt a strong hand grab his shoulder and swung around, the adrenaline in his system controlling him. He slammed his fist into a face and a split second later realized that he had punched one of the bouncers.

When Solo stood up off of the bloody pulp of a man he left on the ground, Heero and Duo were gone. All Solo saw was the tail end of a bouncer running out the door and Heero at his heels. Seeing the unconscious bouncer on the floor next to his own achievement, Solo put two and two together.

Grabbing the wad of money from under the whiskey bottle, Solo tore off into the frigid air of L2, following Heero, who was following the two bouncers, who were giving mad chase to a scared shitless Duo.

And the night was still young.

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Ashley: Foreshadowing, me? Why, I never:pretends to look innocent:

…ah….so sad…only one review response. :cries:


	6. Chapter 6

"This little boy never felt so happy as when in the street."

--Victor Hugo, Les Miserable

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Solo tore out of the bar and felt the cold night air immediately seep through his sweater and blow against his hot skin. He couldn't care about being cold right now though; he had more important matters to attend to. He saw a flash of Heero running under one of the streetlights and doubled his pace.

Duo was a few blocks ahead, barely keeping two strides between him and the two bouncers chasing him.

"Come on guys! It was an accident!" He panted out and grabbed onto a corner, slinging himself around it and gaining some distance on the gorillas chasing him. Despite his pleas, they continued to follow him.

'Who are these guys?'

Heero could easily see the big burly men that chased his braided boyfriend down the streets of L2. The night was breathtakingly cold but Heero had not lost his soldier trained body. He was gaining slowly but surely on the bouncers. The only trouble he had was trying to not loose them in the pitch darkness of the grungy colony.

"Yo! Wait up man!"

Heero didn't need to turn around and glance behind him. He recognized Solo's voice and had already assumed that he was bound to be following behind him. But he sounded relatively close.

"We have to stop those guys before they catch Duo," Heero shouted back as he rounded another corner that the three had gone down before him.

"We're never gonna catch em this way Heero!"

Less than happy about it, Heero had to agree with the streetrat. Solo had nearly caught up to him by now and Heero lagged a few paces, just long enough that Solo was at his heels.

"What do you suggest?" He growled over to the blond.

"Well, Duo's been running like a wild animal. He doesn't seem to be goin nowhere special. Next time he takes a turn, we'll cut down an alley and cut him off."

"How's that gonna help?" Heero saw that Duo and the bouncers were a mere block away from them at the moment.

"We gotta get Duo outta their sight, or those guys won't stop till they catch him and make him pay for all the damages, probably take it out of his hide."

Heero sped himself up. The colony buzzed quietly at night, people living on the streets turned their heads to watch the strange procession run by.

"There!" Solo grabbed Heero's shirt and yanked him hard to the left. Duo had just veered to make a left at the next block. Heero found himself struggling to see in the darkness of the alleyway Solo had pulled him into but trusted his senses enough to follow Solo's body in the darkness.

Like a tunnel, Solo could see the light of the streets at the end of the alleyway. He sprinted the rest of the way and skidded himself to a stop at the entranceway of the alley. Taking half a step out of the alleyway, he reached around the corner of the building and firmly grabbed Duo's shoulder. The alley was only about fifteen feet from the corner of the building that Duo had just rounded. The bouncers had not yet come into that line of sight.

Hurling the boy behind him Solo saw Duo spin into his boyfriend's waiting arms. Not taking any chances, Solo leapt at them and grabbed Heero by the shoulders, forcing him against an alley wall, behind a few empty crates. The three huddled themselves against the ground behind the crates, hiding most of their body from the alleyway entrance.

Heero felt the prickly brick wall through his shirt, and held his breath. Duo's left cheek was pressed against his chest, his hair tickling Heero's nose. Solo crouched like a baseball catcher, his arms on both sides of Heero's shoulders, his face a few inches away. The three were close enough to smell the alcohol on each other's breath.

All three felt each other's bodies stiffen as the bouncers ran by the entrance. Their footsteps stopped.

Solo pushed farther against the two brunettes. Heero's arms were wrapped around Duo, and pressed against Solo's heaving chest. Duo could feel Solo's soft lips against his ear. But there was not time to even think about enjoying the warmth of each other's close bodies. They could hear the bouncers shouting to each other.

After a few tense minutes, the trio heard retreating footsteps. Then the only sounds were cats in the night, families fighting, and all the other usual things on an L2 night.

"Little too close," Duo said with a nervous laugh. He was still sandwiched uncomfortably between Solo and Heero and he could hear his heart beating in his ears.

"Yeah…" Solo just now noticed that his body was wrapped around Duo and Heero like a car that been wrapped around a tree. He pressed closer, relishing being so close to Duo again. And yet, he didn't mind being close to Heero either. He wanted to be close to both, make each other jealous.

"Duo. Are those your hands?" Heero asked quietly. Duo held up both hands in front of Heero's face. The boy nodded, his mussed hair shadowing his face as he did so. Then he punched Solo in the face.

Duo laughed and stood up, finally having recovered his breath and gotten rid of the stitch in his side. Heero stood as well and dusted off his pants. He glared down at Solo. The blond boy had landed on his ass on the pavement and was trying unsuccessfully to sit up.

"Ow. That hurt," Solo rubbed his nose gingerly before looking up at the two men standing over him, "Can't stay and talk guys, I gotta go slay the dragon!"

His drunken body having finally kicked in, Solo passed out.

"You didn't hit him that hard, did you?" Duo smiled at Heero before going to inspect the body. He prodded it and came to the conclusion that the alcohol had finally caught up with Solo.

'And to think. I was starting to tolerate him.' Heero snorted before walking out of the exceptionally dingy alley.

"Hey Heero! Help me carry him won't ya?"

"Why? Leave him there. He knows his way back."

Duo rolled his eyes at his temperamental lover and picked up his ex. Solo's body was eerily light. 'He really hasn't been eating well. Even for an orphan.' With the blond ponytail hanging upside down over his shoulder, Duo came out of the alleyway and headed towards Solo's apartment.

When they arrived, they dumped the unconscious body on the couch in the lobby. Solo had on a dopey grin in his drunken stupor.

When they finally came back to their own place, Heero and Duo crashed onto their bed next to each other, arms and legs thrown this way and that.

Heero sat up straight in bed. He must have been less tired than he thought, considering how wide awake he felt. He looked around but could not find Duo in the room anywhere. He stretched out a bit before standing up and walking over to the door.

Opening it led into a short corridor that was exactly the same on both sides. Heero didn't really recognize the hallway but just assumed it was what it was supposed to be. Noises from down the hall caught his attention and he made his way down the gray carpet towards the last door on the left.

Everything seemed to be so loud to Heero. As if his ears and eyes were overly sensitive. He could hear movement behind that last door on the left. The sounds of people within. Strange groaning noises.

Heero reached out and touched the doorknob. A shock of fear went through him as he heard another gasp from inside. Followed by a devious chuckle. He recognized the chuckle but couldn't seem to place where. The idea dangled in front of him but for all his attempts he couldn't quite catch it.

Heero opened the door and entered the dark room. He could see nothing with his eyes completely unadjusted. Slowly though, he began to see a figure across the room, standing on a bed. A long chestnut braid hung along the naked back of the person. Duo turned and smiled at Heero.

His face was smothered in blood. His lips were crimson, dripping down his chin, pouring onto his bare chest and trickling across the rest of his body. His eyes were wide and blank, staring at Heero as he gave him a chilling smile.

"Duo?" Heero's voice failed him. It clung to his throat and he couldn't for the life of him form any more words than this one. The creature, Heero didn't dare accept that it could be his Duo, just cocked its head to the side. Those empty eyes looked straight through Heero, and he had to force himself to look away.

Slowly the rest of the room began to come into focus. Heero realized that there was someone behind Duo. Against the wall was a body. The barest bit of light was entering the room from the hall, and Heero reached back and opened it, spilling more into the room and illuminating the figure against the wall.

The body had enormous white wings growing out of it, which were pinned to the wall by two silver blades. Blood was slowly dripping from the wound and across the white feathers. The rest of the boy's body hung from his skewered wings, limp and as motionless as a corpse.

Blood poured from his mouth as well, and was slick and smooth across his bare chest. Heero couldn't see the figure's face through the dim light of the room. Duo walked across the bed, a bounce in his step, until he was leaning against the body on the wall. It hung back and forth limply for a second before Duo steadied it.

His eyes held Heero's and he slowly leaned against the gory body. He moved up it, dragging his hands across its chest and smearing the blood like a child with finger-paints. He wrapped his arms around the corpse's neck and leaned up, barely touching his lips to the bloodstained ones. Then he hung on the body and turned to Heero, grinning at him with his reddened smile.

Everything seemed to become clearer and slowly Heero saw blond hair reaching down the shoulders of the body. His head was hanging slightly to the side, and back. Most of his face was still shadowed, but as time went on and the demon Duo continued to grin viciously at Heero, he caught site of the face.

It was Solo. Or at least, it had been.

In place of his once entrancing gold eyes, Solo's face now bore two empty holes. The gaping eye sockets were blackened in blood and gore, which brimmed up in the holes like bloody tears. Heero felt like he couldn't breathe. All he could stare at was the gouged out eyes that stared off into space, as if they could still see.

In a quick movement, the head turned itself to Heero. The gory holes stared straight at him. Slowly the mouth curved into a wicked smile and Solo tilted his head down, causing another scarlet rivulet to pour out of where his eyes once were.

Heero woke up and froze. He couldn't move. He couldn't breath. He shut his eyes, but all he could see was the image of his dream.

'Was it a dream?' Heero slowly took in a breath and looked around his room. Nothing was out of place, it was his hotel room. Duo lay in bed next to him, unaware of what his lover had just gone though.

Rubbing his eyes, Heero was reminded of the state of Solo's face and quickly jerked his hand away. He willed the image to leave him. If only he could think of anything. Anything other than what he had seen.

His body running low on adrenaline again, Heero felt safe enough to move in his bed. He shifted until he was comfortable again and forcefully closed his eyes.

'Think of something else.' He chanted again and again to himself. He feared going back to sleep, sure that the same horrific images would plague him. But as was so common with dreams, he began to forget about it before he had even fallen asleep again.

All too quickly it was morning. And Heero opened his eyes to find his mouth full of Duo's elbow.

"Get off," He said with a gravelly morning voice, tossing his lover over on his side. As usual, Duo continued with the momentum and ended up a snoring body on the floor. Heero tried to roll over and fall back to sleep, but Duo had decided then to wake up.

"Why am I on the floor?"

"Hn."

The chance of falling back to sleep had passed and so Heero resigned himself to actually getting out of bed and getting dressed for the day. He and Duo still wore their clothes from the night before.

While Duo took his shower, Heero sat on the bed and thought. Something had woken him up the night before. He wanted to say it must have been a nightmare, but he hadn't had a nightmare in a long time. And for the life of him, he couldn't remember anything about it. Just a hallway with gray carpets came to his sleep-deprived mind.

After Duo, Heero took his shower and the two were ready to head out for the day, albeit a bit sleepy. They trudged their way through the midday L2 heat to Solo's apartment. Heero wondered the entire way why they continued to bring Solo with them on this investigation. He wasn't really doing very much work, and his "plans" had yet to reveal much. Although the photograph clue could at least lead to some development.

The apartment was silent as they approached, and Duo felt compelled to be equally quiet as he walked in. The rest of the gang was either out working or had slept somewhere other than the apartment the night before.

The couch that sat in front of the closed back door contained the only other two occupants of the stuffy building. Solo was asleep on his back, his head and feet propped up on the arms of the old couch. Curled up on his chest was the boy Ryan, his arms wrapped loosely around Solo's neck. He had his nose buried against Solo's collarbone, and the older boy's arms were securely wrapped around his frail body.

Duo looked to Heero and shrugged. He didn't want to wake up the boy, who had obviously not had a good night. He had the ragged appearance of someone with a troubled sleep.

But from where he was standing, Duo could not tell which of the two boys had been giving comfort, and which had been receiving it.

"Shh."

At the soft, almost hissing sound, Heero and Duo looked through the dim lighting towards the couch. Solo's eyes had opened a crack and he was silencing them.

Heero opened his mouth to say something but Duo shook his head, telling him not to say anything that could wake the boy.

Solo slowly sat up, shifting the weight of Ryan's body so that he moved as little as possible. Duo noticed that Solo was wearing the same khakis and sweater he had on last night, and his red eyes gave away his hangover. Cradling the redhead in his arms like a baby, Solo walked up the stairs to the third level of the apartment, stopping every time he felt the boy's body stir. But Ryan remained asleep all the way back to his bed in the room next to Solo's.

"Do we really need him?" Heero voiced his concerns quietly to his partner.

"I don't know. He can be helpful because he knows the area better than us. And he does know all the scum on this colony and where they hang out. Plus, he's behaving himself better than usual," Duo muttered the last part to himself.

"Look, I don't have any ideas for something to do today, alright?" A choked voice called down. Solo was surprised by the sound of his voice, despite having just woken up. Normally it didn't sound quite so strained.

"That's fine. Do you know of any places this guy could be developing his pictures? If we find at least one of them, we can track him down."

Duo made himself more comfortable and sat down on the couch. It tilted and Duo took a minute to balance himself on it.

"Well, I don't know of any shady picture places. I know a couple a guys who might know though. They hang out at in a dangerous area downtown though,." Solo stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I had plans of going in there and checkin around anyway. All the skeeviest guys hang out down there."

"Guess that's why you fit in so well," Heero's voice had an unusually sharp edge in it this morning.

Solo met his gaze and grinned. 'If only you knew how right you are Heero.'

"Well, we need to check on the photo places here on L2, just in case any have seen something suspicious," Duo ended the tension as quick as he could.

"I'd help ya guys, but I made a promise to some of the kids to go hang with them today. When the sun sets, meet me on Verse and 20th street."

Heero began to leave, not waiting for whatever Solo still had to say. But Duo paused when he realized that Solo wasn't quite finished.

"And if you guys don't want to stand out like sore thumbs, try and dress sexy. The less clothes, the better. And try and wear dark stuff, a lot of Goths go to this club."

Duo nodded and followed his boyfriend out of the door.

"Feelin anti-social much?" Duo said.

"I want to solve this case already and get off of here. What's so anti-social about that?" Heero snapped back at him. When he saw Duo flinch at the outburst he felt guilty and sighed.

"Sorry."

Duo smiled and nodded, accepting the apology.

"So how are we gonna check every single picture development place on the colony?"

"You can check the nearest half, since you seem to know the area well anyway, while I call up the others on the phone."

Duo agreed and when they returned to their apartment Heero marked on a map all the closest photo places. Duo agreed to meet back at the apartment by at least sunset so they'd have time to get ready and meet up with Solo.

Walking down the streets of his hometown with a map was a weird experience for Duo. He wasn't very good at reading maps, especially when they were as technical as Heero's had a habit of being. After a couple of wrong turns he managed to find his way to the first one-hour photo booth. Talking to the manager led him nowhere as he confirmed that no one had developed any pictures of people with numbers on their back.

Duo went to the second on the list, and the third. After being yelled at in German for a while by one particularly irate manager who believed Duo was there to arrest him, he darted down the street and leaned against a wall to catch his breath.

The damn weather was on the fritz as always and it had to be at least 95 degrees out. Duo tried to stay to the shade, but even that refused to cool him down. He knew where the next photo place was, and trudged towards it. The chance of finding out where this guy got his pictures developed was going to be a really boring and long task.

Duo sighed and hung his head as he walked on. It may have been his birthplace and his childhood home, but he hated this colony as much as Heero did. Almost everything about this place made his skin crawl and seemed to suck the happiness right out of him.

He stopped in the middle of the crowd when he heard children laughing. A lot of them by the sounds of it. He followed his ears and found himself coming up on a "park" of sorts. It was really just a blacktop with a couple pieces of playground equipment with sand poured around the area, but it was all the kids could have. It took up a large lot, nestled between two bustling apartment buildings.

The back area of the playground had one net-less basketball hoop nailed onto a wall. The crowd of children were all shooting baskets there, and running around and laughing. Behind the jungle gym, Duo couldn't make out how many there were. With a quick look at the sun to ensure he had enough time, Duo made a detour and walked around the jungle gym.

The first thing he saw for sure was a flash of blond hair.

At least five children grabbed onto Solo's legs and waist, trying to hold him back. He grimaced and acted as if their small bodies could actually cause him trouble, but still managed to dribble the basketball down the court. Dragging half of the team with him, he eventually got within shooting range and made a perfect basket.

All of the children moaned and whined. Duo realized that all of them were on one team. Meaning Solo was playing against at least 9 other players. Duo couldn't help but wonder what the score was.

"That's not fair! You're too damn tall!" One boy shouted and punched Solo in the side. Solo pretended that it was a mortal wound and held tight to it, falling to his knees. For a second the kids looked worried and one glared at the boy who had punched him.

Then Solo looked up and grinned. Before he knew it, all the kids were on top of him, dog piling on him and forcing him against the black asphalt. For a while all Duo could see were limbs flailing about and hear screaming and laughing from under the pile. Slowly, one child at a time, they were all thrown off of the blond.

Solo lay on the ground, panting and his chest heaving. His dark blue tank top was sticking to his body and was pulled askew by the children's frantic tackling. With sweat on his body, and his eyes glazed from exertion, Duo's mind was assaulted with memories from their past.

He quickly tried to force those images out of his mind as Solo sat up, and noticed him for the first time.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" He sprung up from the ground far quicker than anyone as winded as he was should be able to do. But living on the street gave little recovery time, and Solo's body was used to it.

"Checking out photo places…" Duo's voice was small and slow. He was too busy looking at the flushed face of his ex-lover.

Duo never quite understood why Solo was so hot to him. He was scrawny from being a street rat, his hair was always messy and knotted, and oftentimes unwashed. But there was something in that face. Something so raw and honest to Duo, it almost hurt to see it. Especially on someone whose life was otherwise filled with lies and masks.

"Need any help?" Solo asked loudly. Duo snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head side to side.

"Nah. We're good."

"Well, I get the feeling you'll still be needing some help by tonight. Don't forget, meet me at sunset," Solo reached out and brushed a piece of Duo's bangs to the side, almost playfully, "and dress sexy."

Duo's mouth was dry so he decided he'd just have to settle for nodding. He turned on his heel then, and walked away from the tempting smile.

'Deep breaths Duo. Deep breaths.'

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Hey…lurkers. Yeah, I'm talking to you. I see this fic getting hits on the new hit counter. And yet no reviews. Come on people, I'm not asking for some detailed deconstruction of my writing. If you just say that you read it I'm happy. You all know you love getting reviews, so help out everyone else. Hope ya liked the chapter.

Ashley: Ah, my faithful reviewer. :glomp: I'm totally updating this story for YOU. Hope you like this chapter. Sorry it took so long, I work two jobs now and have very little time for fics.

Pyro: Glad you like the story. Yeah, love triangles rock. The slash is…er…sporadic in this story. I hope you like the little bits I managed to stick into this chapter. Oh, and I love your name. I wrote a whole slash fic about Pyro and Nightcrawler. I think I'm the only one to ever use that pairing.


	7. Chapter 7

"I looked for you everywhere.  
I looked for you everywhere.  
Tell me why you're here.  
I came to disappear."

REM, "Disappear"

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Solo ran from his room to the next, looking for his gloves.

"Trish! If I find out you took my gloves again I'm going to rip your fucking throat out!"

"They's in your top drawer you dumbass!"

Solo ran back in his room and practically threw the top drawer out of his dresser. Sure enough, there were his ratty black fingerless gloves. He just couldn't go out and have fun without them. He'd feel naked. And that would be premature.

"Thanks!" Solo yelled down as he looked in the mirror and finished primping himself.

He slipped his two favorite knives, with their sheaths, beneath two straps of black leather he had wrapped around his forearms. They looked a bit bumpy, but he didn't intend for them to be completely concealed. He wanted everyone to know that he had them on him; it would keep most people from bothering him. Unless he wanted them to.

Glancing out the window in his room he noticed that the sun was turning a fiery orange, and nearing the horizon.

"Damn. Late again."

Meanwhile, a dozen blocks away from Solo's apartment.

Heero huffed. Duo laughed.

This would have been funnier except it had been happening for the past half an hour. The sun was gone and now the sky was starting to turn a dark blue. They continuously scanned the street, the corners, and occasionally walked around to check the alleyways. Still no Solo.

"SORRY!"

Heero flinched at the incredibly loud scream that the thin boy managed to belt out as he turned the corner and nearly ran into them. Duo looked less than entertained, but soon his jaw hung open and his eyes widened as Solo stepped under the streetlight.

His hair had been slicked back against his head, just leaving a few strands in front of his face as always. The rest was pulled back against his neck, but in a very flattering way. Instead of a shirt he wore a black leather vest, with no sleeves. It was too small for him, so it stopped just past his ribs, leaving his midriff exposed. It was halfway zipped up, bearing a fair amount of skin. His legs were covered in tight leather pants that hung on his perfect hips.

"Do you guys ever listen?" Solo shook his head back and forth and ran a leather gloved hand through his gelled hair. "I said dress sexy. Look at the two of ya."

Duo and Heero turned and looked at each other. Duo wore a midnight blue silk button up and fashionable dark jeans. Heero had on a black shirt with a black jacket overtop it. They didn't look bad at all, just by their nature they seemed to be attractive with little or no effort. But Solo knew this wouldn't do for where they were going.

Solo went up to Duo and started unbuttoning his shirt. He heard Duo gasp but paid no attention to the reaction.

"Better," Solo looked at his handiwork. The shirt hung to his sides, bearing the middle of his chest and his stomach. Duo kept shifting his eyes over to Heero, as if checking if his temper meter was getting ready to blow.

When the blond advanced on Heero, he growled out a warning.

"Solo…"

"Wolf actually," Solo unzipped Heero's jacket and didn't look into his eyes as he did so.

"What?" Both preventers said at the same time.

"When I go to this place, or turn tricks anywhere else for that matter, I go by the name Wolf. It's another of my personas."

Heero's mind was still preoccupied with the phrase "turn tricks" to stop Solo from stepping closer. He slid his hands over Heero's shoulders and pushed off his jacket. Unfortunately, his mind caught up with his body and Heero pushed Solo away from him.

After taking a few steps back, Solo regained his footing and returned, staring Heero down. His few inches of extra height was coming in very useful to Solo indeed. He reached out and started to pull up Heero's shirt.

Duo flinched as he saw Heero's fingers closing around Solo's throat. He held him so that his feet just barely grazed the ground. Bringing him closer he snarled again, lower this time.

"Omae o kuroso."

Solo just blinked at him. He felt Heero's hand pull away from his neck and rubbed it out of habit.

"What did you say?" He said, looking weirdly at Heero.

"It was in Japanese. He said he's going to kill you," Duo smiled, proud to be helpful when it came to a few of his lover's bilingual moments.

"Oh. That explains it. I only know a few things in Japanese. Onegai. Yamero ja nai. Onegai." (roughly translated to "Please. Don't stop! Please!")

Duo blushed furiously and even Heero curled up his lip at that. Solo seemed blissfully ignorant of what he had said though, and continued on his effort to make Heero presentable to the club they were heading to.

"Fine, if you don't want me to, you still have to take that shirt off. Just wear the jacket."

"Why?" Heero looked suspiciously at Solo.

"Cause otherwise you two are gonna reek of cop and ya ain't gonna be safe even with me," Solo's eyes showed that he wasn't lying. Heero looked to Duo for some sort of help, but his lover just shrugged. Something about Solo's presence seemed to have this kind of effect on Duo, making him easily swayed by Solo's opinions.

Heero angrily removed his tank top and was just as angrily handed back his jacket. He slipped it on and received an approving look from Solo.

"Okay boys, off to Cahos."

Duo sighed and made a strange wheezing sound in his throat. Heero just scowled more, and drew his jacket closer around him.

Solo slammed the door to the club called Cahos wide open and stepped inside. He tried to look cool and imposing but his look was ruined as a large drunk man grabbed him by his vest.

"Wha—" The man slammed his face against Solo and promptly fell backward onto a table, dragging Solo with him. Duo watched as Solo's limbs flailed in every direction and he eventually pried himself from the disgusting man's mouth.

"Damn. Fuck," Solo spit and wiped his mouth a few times.

"Ey…….you're…….not a woman?" The drunk man muttered from his place atop the table. His friends looked on sadly and helped him to his feet.

Solo straightened out his vest and shrugged to his companions.

"Not my best entrance, eh?"

Duo looked around Cahos and quickly decided he preferred The Draft. This place was so crowded that even standing to the side against a wall he had people constantly brushing against him. Most of the bar patrons were on the small dance floor beneath the strobe lights, grinding against each other and doing something that could barely be considered dancing. Loud rock and punk music blared from speakers at the front of the room, and Duo noticed that quite a few couples were wandering off towards a hallway that led away from the main room.

Solo caught his eyes and saw where he was looking. He leaned in close, to overcome the pounding music and yelled/whispered in Duo's ear.

"The only people going down there are those turning tricks, and those paying for them."

Solo's eyes flickered across the room, taking in the crowd and the whores he'd be competing with that night. For some reason Duo found him infinitely less attractive now as he surveyed his clientele like a predator picking out the weak and the sick.

"Wolf!" A young girl in a pink tube top and pink mini-skirt that revealed her (surprise) pink underwear waved at them. She bounced over to them and latched onto Solo's neck.

"We didn't know where you'd been? You haven't been by in far too long," She leaned up and kissed Solo on the cheek before releasing him and looking over at Duo and Heero.

"Who're your friends?"

"Just some friends. They're new. Hey, know if anybody around here has been looking for me. You know," Solo smiled his sexiest grin, "the regulars?"

"A couple of guys I know who prefer you were having drinks over there last time I saw," She pointed towards a dark corner next to the bar, away from the dance floor.

"Thanks tons."

Solo motioned to Duo and Heero and they quickly followed. Heero was beginning to feel like he and Duo were the sidekicks on this little mission, and he didn't like it.

"And what exactly are we going to do S—"

"Wolf," Solo hissed back before Heero even finished calling him the wrong name.

Before they were too close to the crowded table, Solo pulled Heero and Duo close to him. He nodded his head in the direction of the scumbags sitting with their drinks nearby.

"Don't mess with these guys. Don't give em a reason to suspect ya. And if I have to _leave_ for any reason, just act casual. And you two damn well better stick together. You get separated in here and you're in trouble," Solo ran his hands along his gelled hair, preparing to enter the conversation of the men at the table.

"Do you think they can actually help us?" Duo yelled over the music. Solo just shrugged to him, but still looked hopeful.

"I know them and they'll tell me stuff. We can just hope they might know about this bastard," Solo walked away from them now, and the two ex-pilots sat down on bar stools, trying to look like they fit in. From where they were sitting they could see the table, and were close enough to read the lips of those facing them.

They watched Solo walk up and lean against the backs of one of the men, saying something loud that caused the entire group to break into laughter. Then he continued speaking, and Duo managed to catch the words "pictures" and "stirrin up trouble". The heads of those Solo had spoken too sadly shook back and forth. He pouted and muttered something that caused a few of the guys to grin at him again.

Heero got a sinking feeling that this entire night was going to be worthless. The scum in this bar weren't going to have any knowledge that could help them. He just knew it.

Duo on the other hand was pre-occupied with trying to read the lips of Solo and company, while warily watching a few of the bar patrons giving him seductive looks. Without thinking, Duo leaned over in his stool so that he was touching Heero's shoulder, trying to look cooler and less worried than he was actually feeling.

Movement at the table caused Heero and Duo to both look over. A girl had grabbed onto Solo's arm and was dragging him away from the table.

"Where is he going?" Heero snarled loudly in Duo's ear, trying to compensate for the blaring music.

"Or more accurately, where's he bein dragged?"

The girl made a b-line for the dance floor, with a rather unwilling Solo in tow. But he wasn't resisting her, and from the way she kept fluttering her lashes at him as they neared the dance floor, it looked as if they knew each other. When she stopped, close to the edge of the mob of dancers, she immediately pressed her back against Solo and started to dance with him.

Duo's jaw dropped as he watched Solo dance. It occurred to him that he had never seen the boy dance in the entire time they had known each other.

Now he knew why. Solo had two left feet.

He couldn't keep with the rhythm and looked all-around uncomfortable on the dance floor. He obviously didn't know the song, and had to let the girl in front of him lead him. She didn't seem terribly happy with her dance partner's inability to, well, dance, and eventually turned around, leaning up towards his face to say something to him.

Solo smiled at her and gave her a quick hug before fleeing the dance floor like a bat out of hell.

"Oh yes. He's really helpful," Heero quipped before grabbing his drink and taking a rather un-Heero-like gulp.

"At least he can talk to these people. Maybe something good will come of it," Duo matched his lover and took an equally large gulp of his own drink.

Solo had returned to his usual friends, who were all laughing at his failed adventure on the dance floor. He grinned and continued to talk to them, but Duo was having a hard time concentrating on reading Solo's lips due to the screaming that passed as music in Cahos.

When Heero looked over he saw a man who was very well dressed, with slicked back chocolate brown hair sitting at the table with Solo. He must have just sat down, he had no drink and some of the men at the table were greeting him and introducing him. His eyes never left Solo even as he spoke to the others. The ever-present gaze on him was not unnoticed by Solo. He smiled over at the newcomer and narrowed his eyes, inspecting him. The brunette seemed unfazed by this and just continued to let his eyes slowly wander across Solo's leather clad body.

Solo rose from his chair and walked over to the man, standing with one hand on his hips. He leaned down and whispered in the man's ear. The businessman nodded. Solo grinned and stood to leave along with the brunette. But his gold eyes caught Duo's watching him intently and he motioned him over.

Duo elbowed Heero and received a death glare for it.

"Solo wants us over there," Heero nodded and followed Duo to the table.

"Fellas, these are two friends of mine, Heero and Duo. They're the ones I wanted to take a couple a pictures with," The flash of a smirk in Solo's smile was all the innuendo he needed.

"They're real cute Wolf. How come you always get the good ones?" A grizzled old man said, clapping Duo on the back as he sat down.

"Talent luv. Talent."

Solo started to walk away from the table, but turned when he was about to be out of earshot, the man in the suit directly behind him.

"I'm trustin you guys can answer some of my friends' questions, alright?" With the last word Solo tossed his hand back and walked quickly across the bar, the brunette at his heels.

Duo recognized the hallway to the side of the dance floor and looked away. He preferred not to think of where that man was going with Solo. Or what they'd be doing.

The two abandoned Preventers made small talk with those around the table, easing themselves into the conversation until the others trusted them. Then Duo began to talk about the pictures, and brought up the same questions Solo had earlier.

"So you see, we don't really want anyone seeing these, um, photographs. Legal issues and all," Duo tried to smile as sleazily as he could. Most of the men nodded or chuckled, as if they had been down that road before.

"Most of the places here on L2 that'd develop your pics wouldn't call you in no matter what they saw," A younger man chimed in.

"But what if it was very illegal."

'Very illegal? Oh brilliant move Duo. You're just fitting in perfectly.'

Heero noted the faraway look in Duo's eyes as he berated himself.

A few of the men at the table gave Duo an odd look. But one just smiled secretively.

"Well, if you think it really will getcha arrested, it must be something good. Does it involve Wolf?"

"Yes."

For the first time in a while Heero added to the conversation, albeit briefly. The man who had questioned him nodded.

"I knew a guy once who did a lot of child pornography, and he just developed the pictures himself. He said that's how most of the guys in the business did it. Said it wasn't that hard."

Heero's eyes were caught by a movement out of the shadows of the back hall of the club. Solo came walking out, his hair tussled from its gelled position. More pieces of his bangs fell in front of his face, making him appear more like Solo than Wolf. He also looked tired.

"Sorry guys, I think we have to be going now," Duo smiled and shook a few hands around the table of those he had talked to longest. They all agreed that he and his quiet friend should join them more often.

"Hey Wolfie boy!"

Solo had just arrived back at the table when a shrill female voice called out to him. A girl, obviously a prostitute, was standing a few feet away. She had on a mini-skirt and high leather boots. Her makeup was far overdone, and her hair was ratty. Compared to most of the other women in the bar, and especially most of the other whores, she was ugly. Very ugly.

"So, I heard a rumor you're into masochism now," The girl walked up and slapped Solo across the face.

Duo and Heero watched the odd transaction but didn't step in to stop anything from happening. Solo turned his head back to stare the girl down, his ear red from her slap.

"What's wrong with you whore, angry that I've been takin all ya business?" Solo spoke slowly, with his words dripping anger and truth.

"Like I want your faggoty customers. Least I don't get off when someone is gutting me like a—"

Solo grabbed the girl's face in his hand and slammed her head against the floor. Her platform shoes gave her little traction and she was too thin and small to put up a fight against him anyway. Solo swung his leg over her body before sitting down on her. She made a strange gasp as the breath was knocked out of her by Solo's heavy body.

"How about you stop talking about things you don't know about, alright ya little fashion reject slut?" Solo hissed at her as he shifted his hand and used them to pin down her shoulders.

"Aww, the little masochist is hurt. Well fuck you. You shitty retard."

Solo's face remained unchanged. Duo didn't like the look on it. And people were starting to gather around. 'And we all know how much Solo loves a crowd.'

"I'm getting real tired of your potty mouth," Solo smiled sadistically. Duo worried.

"And what the fuck are you going to do about it? I hate bastards like you who—"

Again the hooker was cut off. This time Solo pried her mouth open and pulled out her tongue.

"I see you got a tongue ring. Very nice. But you know the reputation you can get for having one…" Solo gripped the slippery silver stud hard between two fingers and pulled as hard as he could.

Gasps went through the crown and people turned away. A few covered their mouths and looked as if they were about to puke.

Solo tossed the bloodied tongue ring onto the floor and stood up, his eyes flashing like the happy wolf he was. He calmly wiped the blood and saliva from his fingertips off on his pants. The girl was on the floor, doubled over and crying loudly. She also seemed to be cursing, but it was hard to tell because she had just a hole torn through her tongue.

In passing Solo grabbed both Duo and Heero by their elbows and maneuvered them towards the exit.

"I got some information, how bout you guys?" He said calmly.

"You just ripped that girl's tongue ring out!" Duo yelled in his ear. Solo was acting as if nothing had even happened.

"She deserved it. Trust me. Now did ya find anything out?"

"Some. It might be helpful," Heero said quietly. The bar was still in an uproar as the trio waltzed through the door. A few strides from the exit of Cahos, a voice called after them.

"Hey Wolf!"

Solo turned around and Heero and Duo did the same. The girl covered in pink was back again, trying to run after them. Her massive pink heels were not helping her at this.

"What's up?" He said sweetly to the young girl. Duo was still in shock from seeing Solo do something like that to the prostitute in the bar. He knew his ex was a little on the crazy side at times. But he never thought he'd sink to doing something like that.

And Duo knew the real reason he was so scared by what he had seen. Solo had loved it. Every minute from when he knew he was going to do it, to once it had been done.

"High Roller came by a few minutes ago and left a message for you while you were in the back. He's in town for a few days and wanted to see you."

"What!" Solo suddenly lost his cool façade. His eyes were wide and his jaw was hanging open a bit.

"Yeah, he told me to give you a message. He said he'll be at the usual place waiting for you," She walked up and jokingly elbowed Solo in the ribs. "You must be as good as everyone says you are."

With a wink and a wave she bounced and swayed back into the club, its hectic lights disappearing in the gloom of L2 as the door fell shut.

The three boys stood on the sidewalk, each waiting for one of the other two to make a move. Finally Duo was tired of the strained silence and asked Solo what that had been about.

"Nothing," He said tersely. All fun of the night was gone from his face. His face was downcast, and he didn't try to hide the apprehension in his eyes from Duo.

"Listen, I have to take care of this. You guys go home. I'll be back at the apartment by tomorrow afternoon. I'll help then."

"Where are you going?" Heero asked angrily as Solo stormed off. He seemed to be heading home as well.

"Out. Now if you don't mind, I suggest you two get home. Streets ain't safe ya know."

The leather-clad boy disappeared into the shadows of the alleys he called home.

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Ashley: Lemme just say right now. This fic is totally dedicated to you. Oh faithful reader/reviewer. Hopefully you like the way its going. Feel free to give me and im sometime at tmbrwolf113 if you wanna see where this story is going. (I have huge amounts of it written, just not edited yet). Thanks of the awesome compliment too by the way.


	8. Chapter 8

"Blushing a cue for her falsities  
Advantage is my only masterpiece  
Penny is poison but I don't mind  
Penny is poison but I don't mind

Gardening malice for murderers  
Flushes to me are the weeds to her

We know who we are

Starving the love of the marvelous  
I was the penny to previous"

"Penny is Poison", Vervepipe

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The next morning Duo and Heero made their way to Solo's apartment to collect him as usual. The day was a nice one, less sweltering than usual, lending it a fresh feeling. As Duo pushed through the tarp-door, he heard someone rushing to meet him. Expecting his blond companion, he was surprised when instead Trish came barreling into the room.

As she saw them, she sighed heavily and turned around, obviously disappointed.

"Hey Trish, where's Solo at?" Duo said pleasantly as he walked up to the suddenly distraught girl.

"He's not here. I been waitin all da damn day for em."

Duo felt a shiver go up his spine. The night before had been a strange one as it was, let alone the way Solo had been acting towards the end of it.

"Do you know where he went?" Heero said smoothly, as if he was asking what time it was.

Trish was silent for a minute, biting at her lower lip. She licked her lips, her tongue ring flashing out, before answering.

"Yah. I do. But I can't tell ya, or else he'd kill me. If he isn't here in an hour, I'll go and check on him."

"That's not good enough Trish, now where is he?"

Duo was getting angry quickly. Obviously Solo was somewhere he shouldn't be, and Trish was worried for him. This did little to calm his nerves.

"Look cher, it's a deal we have with each other. I don tell nobody where he is, and if he doesn't come home by a certain time, I go and get him."

This answer definitely did not please Duo, and the boy gave her a very serious expression. He was not leaving this apartment without Solo. Or directions to find him.

"Trish, tell me where to go to find Solo, NOW."

Trish stepped back at the sudden shout, but nodded. She seemed shaken by Duo's sudden change in attitude. She had never seen him go into shinegami mode before, so it was easy to see why she would worry.

"Fine. But only you can go Duo," she gave a sharp glance between the two boys. After a tense second or so, Heero nodded unhappily his agreement to the deal. "Fine then. He's in a motel, three blocks down and one up. Fourth floor, fifth door on the right."

"Thanks."

With that Duo was through the tarp like a bat out of hell.

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As he walked down the fourth floor hallway of the Twilight Motel, the sinking feeling in Duo's stomach became worse. The motel wasn't as bad as he expected it to be, but he wasn't sure what to expect when he came to the fifth door.

With a deep breath he tried the knob, half expecting it to be locked. It swung open easily. Stepping into the dark motel room, he tried to find a light switch. The room had the blinds drawn across the windows, and was pitch black, expect for the square of light let in by the open doorway.

"Don't turn on the light!"

Duo recognized the scratchy, hoarse voice that called to him from the dark.

"Solo?" Ignoring the request, Duo closed the door to the hallway and began feeling along the dark wall, looking for a switch.

"Duo, get the fuck out of here!" The voice snarled at him. In all honesty, Duo paused for a minute in his search. He'd rarely heard Solo sound so angry. But he had come all this way, he wasn't leaving without him.

Finally finding the switch, Duo sighed in relief. He prepared to turn on the light, when he heard the same voice as before from across the room. But had he not known that voice so well, he would have thought it was a different person.

"Please Duo. Just leave."

Torn between the painful begging of the voice, and concern for his best friend, Duo stood with his fingers placed on the switch. Eventually he flicked it on and the fluorescent lights hummed and crackled as they turned on, filling the room with the dim yellowy light that had grown so over time.

The room was a modest motel room, a large king size bed right in the middle. Across from the foot of the bed was a dresser/TV stand with a small TV on it. Next to the head of the bed was a table. There was a small bronze key resting on the table, which was about four feet from the bed. On the far side of the room, to the left of the window was a bathroom and counter complete with coffee maker.

Solo was lying on the bed, each wrist hand cuffed to a bed post. The key on the nightstand suddenly made sense.

As Duo looked at Solo, he felt like he was going to scream, or vomit, or both. His friend was only wearing his pair of black leather pants from the night before, which now had tears along the length of them. But the rips went deeper than the leather, right into Solo's legs. Blood had caked along his thighs and calves, and crisscrossed cuts covered his ankle.

Before he could see anything else Duo looked into his best friend's face. His eyes were hard and guarded. There was also a furious anger just below the surface that Duo was very worried about.

"Fine. You've seen me. Congratu-fuckin-lations. Now get out!" Straining against the handcuffs Solo brought part of his body up off the bed.

Stepping forward despite the danger in Solo's eyes, Duo got a better view of the rest of him. There were long thin cuts running across his chest. Some were deeper than others, and those were still oozing slightly. The rest were more like paper cuts, shallow and painful, but not dangerous.

They ran along his whole body, even one ran directly up his neck, ending at his chin. His face seemed fine, except for a bruise that was on his right temple. The worst thing was his wrists though. It was obvious that the cuffs had been made too tight, and they were old and had sharp nicks along them. His wrists were rubbed raw, the skin torn off by his obvious attempts to escape.

"God…Solo…" Duo couldn't seem to breathe. The sight of all the blood covering his best friend, it seemed to bring up old memories. Before he could say anything else, Duo rushed to the nightstand and grabbed the key, heading towards the bed. When he was within reach, Solo flung his leg out and connected solidly with Duo's stomach, sending him back a few feet.

"Don't come near me. Get the fuck out already. I don't need your damn sympathy."

Duo looked up from being doubled over to see the fury in the eyes of his best friend. But that wasn't enough to convince him to leave.

He tried again, and like a caged animal, again Solo lashed out at him with his feet. Duo took a moment to grab a hold of his legs, his hands slipping over the leather, still slick with blood.

"Don't touch me. Get away," Solo panted out as he tried to writhe out of Duo's grasp, which definitely wasn't easy for him considering his arms were still spread painfully wide by the handcuffs.

Duo pushed Solo's legs down and swung himself onto the bed, straddling Solo at the waist and effectively pinning him down.

"Stop it Solo. I'm not leaving without you."

This didn't seem to calm the bucking blond at all, but with his limited mobility and the weight of Duo on top of him, he wasn't getting any closer to escaping. He finally stilled long enough for Duo to lean over him and unlock the handcuff on his left wrist. He expected Solo to retaliate, but instead his gold eyes met Duo, as if questioning what he was waiting for.

After he finished with the other wrist, Solo held them to his chest, tenderly looking at the torn flesh. Duo just sat on him, suddenly feeling slightly awkward. Here he was, with his best friend who looked like he lost a fight with a blender, and he was having dirty thoughts about him.

'Oh yeah. I'm so going to hell. No questions about it.'

"Duo?" Duo snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of his name. Solo was looking up at him, an unreadable expression on his face. His hands were resting on Duo's knees, and were now slowly rubbing up his thigh. Duo was about to say something, or even worse, do something, when Solo spoke again.

"Would you might getting your fat ass off of me?" With this Solo's hands reached Duo's hips and hurled him off of the bed. There was a satisfying thud as the boy hit the floor, and Solo rolled over to face him. "Oh, and hand me my vest would ya?"

Duo snarled some curse angrily up at the blond before throwing his leather vest into his face.

"Thanks."

Solo reached his arms painfully through the vest and let it hang on him unzipped. The too-small vest would probably have been extremely painful to have against so many fresh wounds anyway.

"Solo," Duo sat up on his knees, looking at Solo who still sat on the edge of his bed, his legs dangling off. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing. We should go," As Solo stood up, so did Duo. He grabbed the other by the shoulders and forced him to sit back on the bed. Duo knelt back down next to the bed, looking up to Solo's face.

"No Solo. You look like you were attacked, and I wanna know why you were in this shitty motel handcuffed to a bed."

Solo face split into a fierce grimace. "Isn't it obvious? Hell, you know what I do for a living."

"It would make sense Solo, except that your pants are still on," Duo crossed his arms and was pleased at the slightly pink tinge that raced across Solo's cheeks. But the blush was short lived and soon Solo sat, his shoulders tense, staring down at his feet. Duo waited patiently.

"Look Duo. It makes good money. A hell of a lot more than I could get turning tricks for a whole year. I…" Solo clenched his fists then ran his hands through his hair. Duo was silently breaking inside for his friend. He had known that life on L2 was rough, but he never knew how bad it could be. Or maybe it was just easier to forget about the pitfalls and bury the dark memories.

"It doesn't matter Solo. No amount of money is worth….this…." Duo was finding it hard to talk to Solo, as he sat on the bed splattered with his own blood. He finally raised his eyes to face Duo, and they were as shielded and cold as they were before.

"Don't preach to me Duo, alright," His voice was icy and threatening, and he calmly got up and went to the nightstand, sliding open a drawer. In it was a large envelope which he folded and put in his back pocket.

"Who did this to you Solo?" Duo sat stock still and when Solo looked at him, the fear in his eyes struck a chord in the street rat. He thought Duo was just being nosy and preachy. He didn't realize that the look in his amethyst eyes wasn't condescending, it was frightened.

With a sigh, Solo came over and sat on the floor, his back to the bed. Duo was kneeling at his side, his braid hanging over one shoulder. Following an odd inclination, Solo reached forward and pushed the braid onto Duo's back, brushing against his neck as he did it.

"We call him High Roller. No one knows his real name or where he comes from. The most anyone knows is that he's a CEO of some company on Earth, and comes up here on "business trips"," Solo made quotation marks with his fingers in the air. Duo just nodded his head. He had heard of rich men traveling out of their country, or even off Earth, to satisfy their illegal needs.

"So he pays you…for what?"

Solo just motioned to the cuts across his body.

"This. He's a sadist. He needs to hurt people to…" Solo fell silent and seemed to curl up on himself, and Duo was afraid that he had pushed him too far, "To feel something. His life is too perfect, everything he has. It's like some sort of weird backlash of having a good life. He has to feel…dirty…" Solo shrugged, unable to find the word he was looking for.

"How many times….how long has this happened?" Duo looked over the horrific cuts and occasional gashes and wondered if the scars he used to caress lovingly as battle wounds had different origins than he had thought.

"Only about five or six times. He doesn't come up to the colony more than once or twice a year, and he usually lets the word get to me early. Obviously, this trip was spontaneous for some reason."

"Why you?" Duo made no effort to cover the bitterness in his voice.

Solo just looked at him, his disdain for his friend's naiveté plainly in his eyes.

"Oh come on Duo. I get five grand for just one night with this man. And you know I can take it, you know I heal quickly. Hell, you saw me recover a punctured lung and buised ribs in only three days."

Duo couldn't argue with him, it was obvious that Solo did have pretty miraculous healing abilities. But that didn't mean he should allow people to bleed him half to death just to pay the bills.

"He heard about Wolf because of my reputation as a whore, and approached me about doing this kind of work. When he told me how much he was willing to pay, I accepted."

There was a short silence as Duo got up off the floor and Solo looked around the room, trying to find both of his shoes. When his back was turned to Duo, he heard a soft, careful whisper from behind him.

"Do you enjoy it?"

Solo froze, his boot in hand, hunched over. Duo waited, but it didn't seem like the blond was making any sort of effort to answer him. He went back to carefully putting on his shoes and stood up, back straight and shoulders set.

"I won't be much help to you today. Come to the apartment sometime tomorrow and I should be healthy enough by then."

Duo had to run after Solo as the boy suddenly darted from the room and made his way down the hallway. But Duo wasn't going to be outrun that easily.

"Come back Solo!"

Catching up to him at a turn on the stairs, Duo grabbed him by the shoulder. Solo's body twitched at the feeling of Duo's rough palm on the fresh cut. But it was enough to make the older boy stop running and that was all Duo needed.

"Look, come back to my apartment. We have a full first aid kit. I'll help you with those cuts."

"I've done it on my own plenty of times Duo. I don't need you to baby me."

Despite the words, Solo's voice was flat and tired. Slowly they proceeded out of the motel, and Solo turned to the back roads and alleys that would lead to Duo's apartment. He held his vest close together while trying to keep it from sticking to his wounds.

They received a lot of strange looks on the way, and Duo met each with a glare Heero would have been proud of. Luckily the motel Solo had been at was about halfway between the gang's hideout and Duo's current lodging.

As Duo unlocked the door and opened it for Solo, he suggested that they get him cleaned up in the bathroom, where the first aid kit was.

Solo nodded in agreement, walked into the bathroom, and shut the door in Duo's face.

"What the hell? Solo open the door."

"I told you to stop treating me like I'm some fucking baby. I can take care of myself."

Duo was taken back by the vicious response. In all honesty, there'd never been a time when Solo had ever wanted to be away from Duo. It may have been some flippant move by Solo, but Duo was taking it to heart. He sat quietly on his bed, listening to the water falling in the shower and trying to sort out his emotions.

'First I obsess over Heero and now that I have him…all I can think about is Solo.'

The door opened and Solo came out, half-wet blond hair hanging over his face. He was fully clothed and most of his injuries bandaged, especially the ones on his wrists and ankles.

"Thanks for the shower," he muttered as he passed Duo on his way to the door.

"Wait!" Duo jumped up and grabbed Solo's arm, accidentally squeezing one of his wounds. He heard the blond hiss and he snatched his arm back in pain.

"Why should I? I thanked you for the shower. And thanks for the first aid too. Now fuck off."

Duo stood with his jaw open for a second as Solo tried to get away again. But this time Duo used his speed to his advantage and darted in front of him, backing up against the locked door.

"I don't get this Solo. You're not acting like yourself at all. Why are you just storming out? I want to know what's going on with you lately."

Solo just stared Duo down. He wanted out of this room and Duo was in between him and the only exit. He practically growled as he tried to push Duo out of the way. But the boy wouldn't be budged and clung tighter to the door behind.

"Why won't you tell me what's going on Solo? Two years ago you'd have been all over me. You're acting like a zombie or something. You're not the same, Solo."

Duo was surprised when he felt tears behind his eyes. He blinked and they were gone just as fast as they had shown up. What he had said seemed to strike a chord in Solo, as the older boy just stood and stared back at him. At Duo's intense eyes, Solo was forced to look at the floor. He knew he should tell Duo the truth, it would make life so much easier right now, but he couldn't bring himself to.

"I can't stand being here, all right?" Solo said in a raspy voice.

"Why?" Duo let the anger out of his voice and replaced it with pure concern and compassion. He also let Solo take his time with the response. Another minute ticked by on the red clock readout and Duo's eyes flicked towards the motion before returning to Solo's downcast head.

"Because….because I can't stand being this…this close to you and not being able," Solo's voice seemed to crack, and he took a breath to steady it, "not being able to have you. You already belong to someone else. I'm tired of trying to fight for something I know I can never have."

Duo watched as Solo stayed exactly where he was, frozen in place by hesitance or frustration. On the inside though, neither boy was as calm or still as they tried to be toward each other. Feelings fought in them, and reason and instinct warred.

Solo felt a hand brush against his long bangs, causing his eyes to flick up to the light that came through his heavy hair. Duo's hand brushed against his forehead, trailing around it until his thumb gently stroked his temple. He leaned into the gentle touch, feeling goose bumps rising on his neck. The other hand joined the first and pushed Solo's long blond hair behind his ears. Still he refused to look up and let his eyes remain only half-open.

Solo finally let his eyes slide closed as Duo's lips pressed softly against his. The rest of him stayed in the exact same place. The irrational fear that moving would cause this moment to end kept him stuck in the same position. Duo's fingers brushed along his head before meeting at the back of his neck as he pressed the kiss harder onto the older boy.

Duo pulled Solo's more than willing body down to the floor, till they were both sitting on their knees. He still leaned forward though, uncomfortably maintaining the kiss with the blond. As he kissed him Duo felt the cut on his lips as a bump of dried blood. He was careful to try and not reopen it as he gently licked at the other's mouth. Solo began to respond more and now let his hands come to rest on Duo's folded knees, leaning forward and making them both more comfortable as their slow kiss spoke for both of them.

Duo ended the kiss, giving one last gentle press to Solo's lower lip before pulling away. Both were flushed and the sound of each other's hard breathing just made them redden more.

"Lay back," Duo said softly. He fulfilled his own order by pushing Solo's shoulders gently until he was leaning back on his elbows, his legs spread to either side of Duo's knees.

Duo leaned down and began to gently bite and lick at Solo's earlobe. This caused him to throw his head back and open his mouth in a silent groan. Taking this as an invitation, Duo moved down and began to kiss his neck, carefully keeping to one side and avoiding the un-bandaged cut that ran straight down from his chin.

Solo felt Duo's hands resting on his chest as he continued to suck at the side of his neck. The hands were keeping Duo's balance, but soon he readjusted himself and began to run his hands down Solo's battered leather vest. At the feeling of warm hands running across his cuts and bruises made Solo feel suddenly vulnerable in Duo's hands and he let his head hang farther back, beginning to pant and squirm underneath Duo.

Duo's lips left Solo's neck just long enough to go to the other side and lick him there as well. This time Solo's groaning was no longer silent. His hands found the zipper to Solo's vest and slowly dragged it down.

"Unngh…." Solo couldn't keep himself quiet as he felt Duo open his vest and push it back so it rested on his elbows, which were still propping his body up. His mouth was working along his collarbone and his fingers ghosted across his chest. Slowly they brushed against his ribs and Solo twitched at the ticklish feeling before Duo's hands continued to wrap around his back.

So quick that there was almost an audible snap Solo's head was up and he pushed Duo off of him. The boy looked indignant to say the least as Solo put his vest back on and quickly re-zipped it.

"We're not doing this Duo."

"We were until you stopped," the boy shouted up at him, looking more than a little miffed.

"Fine then. I'm not doing this."

Solo walked over and began unlocking the bolts on the door, not listening to the many protests being screamed at his back. When he opened the door and it was slammed shut again by Duo's hand next to his, Solo turned on him in a flash.

"Look Duo. I'm going. _You_ can do this if you want. But play this stupid shit with someone else. You have someone to go home to when you're done fucking me over. I don't. And I'm tired of it."

As he spoke his voice escalated till he was screaming back at Duo. The boy's bright purple eyes were wide in shock. In the next second the blond was gone and Duo was left in a very annoying predicament. Annoyed, shocked, horny, and heart broken.

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Ashley: Hello there! My singular reviewer. Hope you're enjoying where the fic is going. I was kinda taking a chance with this chapter, but I stand by it. Its kinda one of those the ends justifies the means things. The fic is going to get really really good in the next couple of chapters. We're reaching the climax people:crickets chirp from the audience: Yar…stupid silent readers….


	9. Chapter 9

"The fox has many tricks, the hedgehog only one. A good one."

Archilochos

Okay…that has nothing to do with this chapter really…but I love Greek philosophers.

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Solo sat on the uneven couch, his back propped up against the higher arm. He was staring out the back door, watching the colors in the glass fade from white to orange as the sun began to set. He could feel the cool air begin to blow through the tarp as night was coming, and it felt good on the hot bandages around his body. Then he looked back down at the sheet of paper in his lap. It was the results of Heero and Duo's final compilation of suspects. The unsocial one had delivered it just an hour before that, telling him that they would need his help to find the best ways to the suspects houses the next day and to familiarize himself with their locations.

"Maybe I should buy us a door?" He said flippantly at Trish who sat down on the floor, her back against the side of the couch.

"Nah. Dun need it. This way its nice and fresh in here."

Solo just hummed back at her, leaning his head farther back off the couch. The could see the clouds through the holes in the skylight, purple bottoms with orange plumes on top. It must have been a beautiful sunset tonight.

"Solo?"

He let his head loll to the side to meet Trish's intense green stare.

"Why d'ya let him get to ya? Is he really that important?" As she spoke, she let a hand slide along the couch to Solo's chest. She made sure not to press too hard on the bandages across his chest, and slowly stretched herself towards Solo's face.

"He is Trish. Hell if I know why. Half the time I hate the little shit. But, I just can't seem to stay away," he laughed and hung his head, "Maybe I really am becoming a masochist."

The feeling of a soft hand running through his hair calmed him, until the hand started to ease his head forward. He felt lips that were far too soft press to his, slick with lip gloss. After a second Solo pulled away and let his head hang off the arm once more. He could practically feel the anger radiating off of Trish.

"You know, der are people in da world who wouldn't treat ya like shit Solo."

Solo didn't watch as she stood up and walked angrily away. He just sat in the dying light of the sun and tried not to pick at his scabs.

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"So is this our boy?" Duo leaned over Heero's shoulder, never quite having kicked the old habit from his days of pestering the other pilot.

"Could be. Him or one of these three. They're the only ones that fit all the descriptions we have, and who had bought supplies for developing their own film in the last six months."

"Of course, he might have had the supplies already," Duo walked over and sat on the bed, looking out of the window. The sun had just set, and the lights on L2 were blinking on, like fireflies.

"No, the chemicals won't stay for more than six months. He has to have bought new supplies in that time frame."

"Hm," Duo grunted. Heero looked over at the man who sat on the bed. His face was blank as he stared out the window. Even with his level of social skills, he knew when someone had something on their mind.

"What's wrong?" Duo jumped from the voice suddenly behind him and the firm grip on his shoulder. He looked around guiltily, making sure not to blush.

'It's not like you haven't kissed him before. It's not like Heero doesn't know you've kissed. He just doesn't know about that specific one…'

In response he merely sighed and leaned back against Heero's embrace.

"I can tell something's bothering you. For once why don't you make this easy and just tell me."

Again Duo smirked at his lover's sudden sense of humor. He brought his hand up and held tightly to the one wrapped around his shoulders. They stayed that way for a few seconds, enough that Duo could gather his courage, and that Heero could urge him on.

"I…I need to talk to Solo about something. That's all…" Duo finally whispered.

"Hm."

Duo felt Heero let go of him and he turned to see him taking off his clothes.

"I'm going to sleep," Heero pulled the covers as far as he could with Duo still sitting on them and crawled into the bed, "Just promise me one thing."

Duo looked over but Heero had his head on his pillow and was staring blankly off into space as he spoke.

"You'll be here before I wake up."

Duo understood what Heero was getting at. He also felt like he knew why Heero couldn't come right out and say it. That would be pointing out that he knew what Duo really wanted; and the fact that it certainly wasn't him.

"I will."

On his way out Duo leaned down and kissed an unresponsive mouth before heading out into the increasing cold.

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It was easy to sneak into the crumbling apartment. There seemed to be someone on guard, but he was snoring loudly on the couch. Duo was tempted to do something to prove that the guard had fallen asleep on his watch, but decided that he didn't have time for it. He needed to be back before sun-up.

Sneaking up the creaky stairs was a far more daunting challenge, and each time his foot pressed on a stair the ancient wood moaned. He was positive that the guard was going to wake up at any time, but his snoring neither lessened nor changed.

At the top of the stairs, Duo walked down the hall to the door he remembered Solo leaving. He had assumed that it would be locked and fished a lockpick out of his hair.

'Old habits die hard.'

The click of the lock was a calming sound to Duo as he began to open the door. He stopped though as he saw something move off to his side. He left the door closed as it was and sprung up, his eyes darting from shadow to shadow, trying to find who was there.

"You know…he never used ta do that."

Duo relaxed as he heard Trish's now-familiar voice. She stepped out of the doorway next to Solo's room, looking like she hadn't even gone to sleep yet. But on the other hand, she didn't exactly look thrilled about being disturbed anyway.

"Do what?"

"Lock the door. Specially on the cold nights like tonight. We all used ta share da room, keep each other warm. Now he locks us all out."

Duo caught the stress on the word all but was unwilling to take the hint. He said a quiet goodnight to the girl before slipping into Solo's room. As he turned around he shut the door, turning the knob beforehand so it wouldn't make any sounds. Then a knife embedded itself in the door next to his head.

"What the fuck? Duo? Holy crap man, I coulda killed you."

"Not with that aim you couldn't," Duo grinned as he pulled the knife out of the door and started walking towards Solo. The blond was lying on a mattress on the floor, covered in ragtag blankets. He was wearing a white wifebeater that had definitely seen better days. His room was almost entirely empty, small odds and ends spread about and a pile of clothes next to an empty set of drawers.

As he came closer to the bed, Duo began to make out Solo's face in the darkness. He didn't look pleased to see the younger man, and Duo hoped he could change that. Flipping the knife in his hand so he was holding the blade, he held it out to Solo. The streetrat gripped the handle tightly and returned the knife to its place next to his mattress.

"What are you doing here anyway?"

Duo kneeled down on the floor next to the mattress. Solo sat up, the blankets still pulled tightly around his waist, keeping out the cold chill of the desert-like night. Thinking back to all the things he had planned to say, Duo then made the stupid decision of looking into Solo's eyes. He could barely make them out in the darkness, but he knew his ex's body language enough to know that they were soft and questioning, battling against the hope that was trying to fight its way out.

"What do you want me here for…" Duo shuffled closer and was hurt as Solo flinched back.

"No Duo. I told you already. No more games. This is my place this time, so I can kick you out."

"Look Solo. There's something going on here, I know there is. Something you're keeping from everyone. Even Trish mentioned that you've been acting weird."

Solo suddenly seemed to realize something and gasped. Duo hoped it was a reaction to what he said.

"How did you get in? Mako was supposed to be on shift right now!"

Duo just shook his head. Hopeless. Giving up on putting it off any longer, Duo got into a crouch and then crawled on top of Solo. The blond spluttered something incoherent and tried to push him off but Duo held onto his wrists and held them tightly, despite their recent injury.

"Solo, do you still love me?"

Oh crap.

Solo felt his chest seem to close in at this. He didn't want to think about things like this, not right now, not ever. He thought once he was over Duo, and he may have gotten to that point had he not shown up again. Turning his head to the side, Solo refused to look at the pleading face in front of him. He would not give in.

"You do…" Duo whispered, letting go of Solo's wrists. He had somehow always known that the blond really did love him, but he had done such a good job of convincing himself otherwise that it still came as a shock.

Reaching forward, Duo pulled Solo's head to his, and kissed his mouth more fiercely than Solo could ever remember him doing. His mouth pressed hard and hot against his. The moonlight of the cold night seemed to rise as Duo pressed Solo against the mattress. He fought his way out from beneath the blankets until he could feel Duo's body against his.

They ignored the cold nipping at their flesh as they threw their clothes to the side. In the soft moonlight that wavered in and out of the room, their hot breath came out in puffs of silver smoke.

The room was silent, except for the smacking of kisses on flesh. The only noise either of them made was a surprised squeak from Duo as Solo flipped him over, leaving the predatory blond pressing down against him. Everything was lost in a flash of movement that seemed slow and all too fast at the same time.

Duo felt the silence pressing in on him as Solo began to move achingly slowly against him. They rocked back and forth and Duo gave up and let out a groan as he was pressed against the crumpled blankets piled underneath him. Solo just clenched his fists in the heavy blankets, trying to get traction as he poured everything he had into thrusting into Duo.

His hands gripping tightly to Solo's shoulders, Duo didn't even notice the soft pink that bled through the bandages. Solo could care less. He took Duo's mouth in his as he pushed harder and harder into the boy beneath him.

Duo could feel the sweat on Solo's flushed body as it cooled in the night air, making him shiver. That sight alone, Solo shivering as his eyes blanked out in pure pleasure almost made him come right there. When they climaxed, the moon went behind a cloud and their shadows disappeared as they collapsed with each other into the blankets.

Duo could feel the cold sweaty body panting above him. He smelt like sex, his hair was coming out of his braid, and he had just cheated on his boyfriend of two years. But he couldn't move. Couldn't stop this. Didn't want to leave him.

Solo just rose up, getting off the body beneath him. Duo looked up, confused, as Solo quickly grabbed his clothing and began to get dressed in the dark pre-morning light. He wobbled slightly on unsteady legs.

"How you do that is beyond me," Duo let out with a smirk and a sigh. "I can't feel my legs, let alone use em."

Sensing the apprehension through his joking, Solo knelt down and kissed Duo chastely on the lips. This seemed to please the boy as he snuggled down into the warm blankets that smelled like his lover.

"I have to run an errand Duo, I'll be back soon."

"I," Duo paused as he yawned, "I have to be back to Heero by sunrise."

Solo nodded, "I'll be back by then. You should sleep though now, okay?"

The boy curled up on himself against the cold. Solo grabbed the piece of paper on his empty set of drawers, and quickly strapped his knives to his wrists. As he left, he looked back one more time at the satiated boy lying on his bed.

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Duo opened his eyes, the sharp slanting morning light boring into them. He winced, but forced them open, looking around as much as he could without actually moving his head from where it was nestled in Solo's pillow. Only then did he seem to realize that the sun was up, and judging by the brightness of it, it had been for some time. He stretched out, feeling the worn out sheets brush against his chilled skin. The bed had been cold for far too long.

Then he rolled over, and saw Heero standing in the doorway, watching him. Duo's eyes flicked from the door, to his clothes, to the bed he was in. He couldn't raise his eyes to Heero's, even if he tried.

Instead he stood up, crawled out from under the thin covers, and began to get dressed. When he eventually looked up, Heero was gone. Duo tried to ignore the dull feeling of sore muscles and his overexerted body.

Only when he brushed across a love bite that Solo had left on him the night before did he realize that the blond had not returned. When he checked his watch it was ten in the morning. Solo said he would return by sunrise, which was a good three hours earlier.

Running out of the room, Duo tore down the stairs to find Heero standing in the middle of the lobby, looking uncomfortably at the man that Duo now knew as Mako. The black haired man stood with his huge arms crossed over his chest, emitting a sense of strength that seemed out of place on a man barely as tall as Duo himself.

"Where's Solo?"

The question wasn't meant for anyone in particular, and both Heero and Mako looked at him in response. But no one has seen hide nor hair of the blond since he left early in the morning.

"We don't have time for that now anyway Duo, we got a call this morning."

"What about?" Duo tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in his gut when he looked at Heero.

"Murders."

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I think my Greek professor is trying to kill me. Sorry if the updates will be a while…college sucks, and unfortunately this is about as far as I've gotten in the fic…I only have bits and pieces from here on. Sorry…please stick with me. Thanks all:is afraid to respond to reviews because of rumors that FFN is cracking down on it:

Oh, and anyone who thinks they know what's going on, feel free to leave a comment with your theory. I'd love to know what you all think. Oh, and the story is getting into the final act. Be prepared for all the best parts. Hehe.


	10. Chapter 10

"We're going down, down in an earlier round  
And Sugar, we're going down swinging  
I'll be your number one with a bullet  
A loaded gun complex, cock it and pull it"

--"Sugar we're Going Down", Fall Out Boy

"Clouds are comin  
Air get's heavy  
Looks like trouble on a rainy day  
Sun starts sinking  
Can't see my shadow  
Looks like trouble on a rainy day  
Holes uncovered  
Walls will crumble  
All spells trouble on a rainy day"

--"Rainy Day", Guster

Yeah…this chapter gets two. Any of you who read Rainy Day…which was the one shot/epilogue/prologue that linked The Past Becomes You and the Future Denies You will recognize those lyrics.

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The two Preventers were partnered with the same cop they had met at the police station. Apparently the murders had taken place a decent way across the colony, so they were riding over in the police car.

There was no worse time for something like that to happen. Heero and Duo avoided looking at each other. Heero just stared almost violently out the window. His smaller companion resorted to an old habit of his and played with his braid.

"Here we are gentlemen."

Both sighed loudly in relief and practically jumped out of the squad car the second it stopped moving.

"Bit excited are we?"

Duo grinned at the police man, officer Murphy as he had introduced himself. Together the three walked into the house. It was in the very small good part of L2. The houses looked like a typical upper middle class suburban neighborhood. Well kept grass. White picket fences.

Duo didn't know places like this existed on L2.

As they passed under the yellow police tape that was barring the door like some morbid limbo stick, they were assaulted by the sight of the living room. Corpses and blood were everywhere, but Duo's eyes were immediately drawn to two things.

A forensics officer with rubber gloves on who was very carefully placing a silver throwing dagger into an evidence bag. And at his feet, a file folder that had been thrown onto the floor, its contents spread around in the blood like leaves in puddles.

The pictures were all from different angles, and different lighting. But one thing was constant. A person's back, with a number carved into it.

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Solo walked quickly down the street. He normally loved being out at night. But under tonight's circumstances, he was understandably nervous. His body was still a little tired, in a good way, from his and Duo's earlier excursions. What he wouldn't give to be back in his ratty bed with Duo.

But no, timing had to be against him. Again. Here he was, wearing a jacket and a cap, trying to walk as quickly as he could without seeming even more suspicious down the streets of L2 at an ungodly hour of the morning. He'd passed the invisible barrier that kept the good area from the bad a few minutes ago. Houses were actually painted here, and looked like they do on tv.

Solo pulled the crumpled piece of paper from his jeans pocket. He was definitely on the right street. Now he just had to find the house. After memorizing the digits he put the printout back into his pocket and tried to straighten his cloths and adjusted his hat. The numbers on the mailboxes led him to a coul de sac. The pre-dawn light was barely enough for him to make out the small wooden letters.

'Well. Now or never I suppose.'

Having done a little research of his own, Solo knew that this man had to commute pretty far to his job every weekday. He would be up around 4:30 and out of the house by 6. He had no idea what time it was, but it couldn't be too far from 5 am.

Pulling himself up and plastering a bright smile across his face, Solo rung the doorbell on the suburban house. After a few quiet moments within the brightly lit house, a tall woman answered the door in two piece plaid pajamas. She paused and looked Solo over uncertainly.

"Can I help you young man? A bit early in the morning to be selling things isn't it?"

Solo detected the faint anger and just smiled wider.

"No ma'am, I'm not selling anything. I'm with the gas company. We've had some complaints of gas leaks in this neighborhood last night and I've been sent out to do some surveys. Perhaps I could come in for a minute and take a look at your gas line?"

The woman now seemed thoroughly pleased to see the raggedy youth. She ushered him inside and quickly locked the door after him. After all, this was still L2.

"Do you know much about gas lines miss?" Solo couldn't help but enjoy the humor of the situation. He had no clue how gas worked. In fact, he was pretty sure half of what he'd just said didn't make sense. Ah well.

After thinking for a minute the woman shook her head. Solo had to repress the urge to sigh. That could have thrown his whole plan into the crapper.

"If your husband is awake perhaps he could take me to where your gas line comes into the house. That way if anything is wrong I can speak to him about it."

The woman smiled again and headed upstairs. Solo wandered nervously about the large living room. There were pictures everywhere of the woman, her husband, and their two children. An older boy who wore a university sweatshirt in the more recent photos, and a young girl in pigtails.

Solo started alternating standing still and securing his knives to his wrists to pacing the room. The moment of truth was nearly upon him. Finally he heard some footsteps coming from a room upstairs. The woman was leading, now with a robe thrown over her pajamas and looking suspiciously more cleaned up. Behind her was a man, easily a few inches over six feet, with brown hair cut to a short business length. He was straightening his tie over his white button up as he followed his wife down the stairs. Solo meanwhile pulled his cap a little lower over his eyes.

"Hello young man. My wife told me all about the gas leak. Please, I'll show you where the gas line is."

Feeling a dismissal, the wife went into the kitchen where she had left her breakfast cooling. Solo and the tall man meanwhile headed down a short hallway that ended in a closet. The doors had slots in them and slid open with a small tug from the man.

Solo stood carefully behind the large man as he pointed out pipes and began explaining things. Every time he glanced back Solo shifted his gaze and pretended to be interested and calculating. Really he had been sizing up this guy. He was bigger and more muscular in person than expected. And the wife was in the kitchen just down the hall. He'd have to make this kill a quick one and get out before anyone was suspicious.

As the man began to explain some other piece of useless knowledge Solo reached into his wrist sheath. There was no hesitation as he lunged for the man's back. But it wouldn't be so easy. The large man had managed to sidestep him and now had his hand on the wrist that held the knife. His strong grip pressed the other blade and sheath against the inside of Solo's thin wrists.

"You play a bad gas inspector."

The man pulled him close and Solo could smell the coffee on his breath.

"Those are water pipes."

Solo snarled at this man's bad sense of humor. Then he head-butted the guy right in the face. Not wasting a second the blond was back to his feet, his cap having fallen off. He glared eye to eye with the man in front of him and got up from his crouch, pulling the knife's brother from his other wrist.

"Careful boy. This is my house."

"Ha. This is your grave."

Solo stepped forward and slashed both knives at the man. There wasn't much room in the hallway and the big guy had dodged down and rolled towards the living room. But not before one of Solo's blades had clipped his forearm.

For a second the streetrat realized that if the man got away he would have wasted all this time. He sprinted down the short hall and threw himself at the man, knives first. But the rather athletic upper middle-class worker kicked one from his hand to the side of the room, and grabbed the other wrist once again in his huge fist.

At this rather inopportune moment both the man's wife and his daughter decided to arrive at opposite ends of the living room. His wife screamed bloody murder, rather appropriate considering the situation, and his daughter cried out to him.

"Get back!"

"Ha! So you're kind to them if they're your family huh?" Solo finished this with a kick to the man's stomach, just hard enough to free himself to attack again. But the man's daughter decided to attack him at that time, latching herself onto his unarmed shoulder. Seeing the man coming at him instinct kicked in and Solo flung the girl behind him. Hard.

The crash didn't distract the man as Solo had hoped but seemed to enrage him further. He punched Solo so hard across the face that he felt a tooth loosen itself. Blood came gurgling out of his mouth but he couldn't pay attention to that now. There was screaming and crying from the man's wife, who had gone to their daughter somewhere behind Solo. But the blond wasn't paying attention to that.

Flipping the knife in his hand Solo hurled it with all his might. It hit the man directly in the chest with a satisfying thunk. As he doubled over and reached for the blade Solo darted forward and grabbed the hilt, forcing the short throwing knife even deeper. When his eyes went blank and the body fell to the floor Solo realized that there was a lot of screaming going on, and neither he nor the man at his feet were the ones doing it.

Turning around, blood pouring down his jaw and his hand splotched and sticky, Solo was surprised that the woman didn't run off screaming. But she stood over the still body of her child, next to a table that was overturned, blood on the corner. He felt a surge of guilt as he realized that she must have hit her head on the table. He didn't want to kill anyone. Just the man who now rested perfectly still on the floor.

The woman was yelling incoherently and Solo's eyes finally managed to process to his brain that she had a handgun in her hand.

'Well shit.'

The shot went off and Solo felt it dig deep under his collarbone. More blood everywhere. But he wasn't going to go down easy. The woman screamed and dropped the gun, her hands burned from the hot barrel. He took advantage of her mistake and leapt to his discarded knife, picking it up and throwing it in one fluid motion.

A man with a knife in his chest. A girl with a bloody skull. A boy shot in his chest. And a woman with a knife sitting between her eyes.

Solo stumbled through the living room, dry heaving as he tried to make it out of the room. This wasn't what he wanted. But it was too late. At least now he didn't have to make a hasty exit. He found the master bedroom easily upstairs. Every place that something might be kept, Solo tore into. The closet, beneath the bed, cabinets, everywhere.

He couldn't find anything other than normal family photos. Leaving the pile behind he checked the rest of the house. A few storage closets were torn open and destroyed as Solo avoided the living room and continued his quest. Eventually the only room left was the little girl's. Knowing what this man was capable of, Solo wasn't too surprised.

He had to find those pictures soon. The house smelled like death already. Feeling an odd sense of guilt he tried to search the girl's room carefully. In her closet there was a set of drawers. The bottom one seemed large compared to the small amount of things kept inside. Pulling back the bloody hand that had shoved a knife into his fellow killer's chest, he broke through the false bottom and tore the fake wood out. A small folder was there, and inside were twenty years worth of the worst kind of hobby.

Everything was starting to get fuzzy to Solo. He took one picture out of the folder, dropping the rest on top of the corpse. He finally took a moment to look at his gunshot wound. It burned and he knew that it was dangerous. There was no exit wound, so that meant the bullet was somewhere in his chest. The blond dry heaved again at the thought of digging the bullet out himself. Finally he left the house; blood splattered and racked with pain every shuddering stride he took.

The sun was barely rising, and Solo was thankful that no one had seen him escape. Soon he'd be to the halfway point. Where the colony became disgusting and poor. Then it was just a fifteen minute run to his home. Or wait, was his home the other way. The blond stumbled into an alleyway and collapsed. His head was pounding with every heartbeat. So much blood. That much blood can't be good. Suddenly feeling cold and sleepy he curled up on his side, hoping that no other thieves would find him while he took a little nap.

Even the sounds of the approaching sirens weren't enough to make him get up. Although some little part of his mind warned that 1) there were sirens coming, most likely the police looking for him, and 2) the sun was up and he'd broken another promise to Duo.

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Duo ran through the tarp and looked around, praying to see a familiar blond. But only the boy Ryan was here, sitting on the couch and apparently singing to himself.

"Solo why don't we get to sing? Annie does. So does Oliver Twist. I think we should take it…up…" Looking up the boy finally realized that it was not his leader who'd burst in.

"Ryan, is Solo here?"

The redhead shook his head. He looked a little worried now at the expression on Duo's face and stood up.

"No, we haven't seen him since last night. Is something wrong?"

Duo's stomach clenched up and he didn't think he could answer the boy right now. The images of the slaughtered family, with the pictures spread around on the ground. He knew that Solo did it. The knives that were found on two of the victims were his. There was no telling what Solo would do now. He's become a vigilante and killed two innocent people. And the blood trails leading around the house and out the front door were not comforting.

"I'm sure he's fine. But try and find us if he contacts any of you."

His voice was harsh from emotion but Duo tried to smile to Ryan. He seemed fine with this falsity and sat back down for a nap on the couch.

Heero waited outside and looked up as Duo came out into the midday sunshine. He looked like he's been through hell. Which he most likely had.

"They haven't seen him. Where should we check next?"

"The police are checking the morgue, considering the blood loss and all. We should start looking anywhere else he might go."

Duo could think of a few of Solo's usual haunts in the area and nodded shakily. Despite all that had happened, Heero wrapped an arm around the smaller boy's shoulders and kissed his hair. He could feel Duo sigh against him, before they separated and headed off.

'One killer down. One to go.'

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Oh the speed! The speed with which I am updating! considering how college is now I'm uber-surprised at how fast this update was finished. We're getting to some of my favorite parts of the story. I'm still not hearing too many theories, but that's okay. Tell your friends… and don't forget that if you put a fic on your alert list you'll get an email whenever I update. I use it all the time. Later readers.


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